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Snow depth, soil freezing and nitrogen cycling in a northern hardwood forest landscape

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Abstract

Increases in soil freezing associated with decreases in snow cover have been identified as a significant disturbance to nitrogen (N) cycling in northern hardwood forests. We created a range of soil freezing intensity through snow manipulation experiments along an elevation gradient at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest (HBEF) in the White Mountains, NH USA in order to improve understanding of the factors regulating freeze effects on nitrate (NO3 −) leaching, nitrous oxide (N2O) flux, potential and in situ net N mineralization and nitrification, microbial biomass carbon (C) and N content and respiration, and denitrification. While the snow manipulation treatment produced deep and persistent soil freezing at all sites, effects on hydrologic and gaseous losses of N were less than expected and less than values observed in previous studies at the HBEF. There was no relationship between frost depth, frost heaving and NO3 − leaching, and a weak relationship between frost depth and winter N2O flux. There was a significant positive relationship between dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and NO3 − concentrations in treatment plots but not in reference plots, suggesting that the snow manipulation treatment mobilized available C, which may have stimulated retention of N and prevented treatment effects on N losses. While the results support the hypothesis that climate change resulting in less snow and more soil freezing will increase N losses from northern hardwood forests, they also suggest that ecosystem response to soil freezing disturbance is affected by multiple factors that must be reconciled in future research.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Lisa Martel for excellent field, laboratory and data analysis work. This research was supported by U.S. National Science Foundation Grants DEB 98-10221 (Hubbard Brook Long Term Ecological Research) and DEB 00-75387 (Ecosystem Studies). This research was conducted at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest, which is operated and maintained by the USDA Forest Service, Northern Research Station, Newtown Square, PA. This paper is a contribution to the Hubbard Brook Ecosystem Study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Box AB, Millbrook, NY, 12545, USA

    Peter M. Groffman

  2. U.S. Army, Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, Hanover, NH, 03755, USA

    Janet P. Hardy

  3. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, 13244, USA

    Samuel Fashu-Kanu & Charles T. Driscoll

  4. Department of Natural Resources, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA

    Natalie L. Cleavitt & Timothy J. Fahey

  5. Department of Zoology, Miami University, Oxford, OH, 45056, USA

    Melany C. Fisk

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  1. Peter M. Groffman
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  2. Janet P. Hardy
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  3. Samuel Fashu-Kanu
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  4. Charles T. Driscoll
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Correspondence to Peter M. Groffman.

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Groffman, P.M., Hardy, J.P., Fashu-Kanu, S. et al. Snow depth, soil freezing and nitrogen cycling in a northern hardwood forest landscape. Biogeochemistry 102, 223–238 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-010-9436-3

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