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Soil nitrogen availability varies with plant genetics across diverse river drainages

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Abstract

Understanding covariance of plant genetics and soil processes may improve our understanding the role of plant genetics in structuring soils and ecosystem function across landscapes. We measured soil nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) availability using ion exchange resin bags within three river drainages across Utah and Arizona, USA. The three drainages spanned more than 1,000 km in distance, 8° of latitude, and varying climatic regimes, but were similarly dominated by stands of Populus fremontii (S. Watts), P. angustifolia (James), or natural hybrids between the two species. Soil N availability was consistently greater in P. fremontii stands compared to P. angustifolia stands, and hybrid stands were intermediate. However, we found that the influence of overstory type on soil P availability depended on the river drainage. Our study suggests that, even with a near doubling of mean soil N availability across these drainages, the relative genetic-based effects of the dominant plant on N availability remained consistent. These results expand upon previous work by: 1) providing evidence for linkages between plant genetic factors and ecosystem function across geographic scales; and 2) indicating that plant genetic-based effects on nutrient dynamics in a given ecosystem may differ among nutrients (e.g., N vs. P).

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Abbreviations

N:

Nitrogen

P:

Phosphorus

NH +4 :

Ammonium

NO −3 :

Nitrate

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Acknowledgements

We thank The Evergreen State College, the NAU School of Forestry, and NSF IRCEB and FIBR grants DEB-0078280 and DEB-0425908 for logistical and financial support. For extensive help in the laboratory and in the field, we thank N. Lojewski, D. Guido, G. Cox, P. Cox, R. Ivens, P. Townsend, J. Bailey, G. Wimp, A. Haden, A. Gitlin, D. Weber, and D. Baumley. T. Kolb and C. Gehring provided important feedback on earlier drafts of this manuscript. We also thank the members of the NAU Hart and Whitham laboratories, and the Evergreen Field Ecology laboratory, who also provided helpful comments on earlier versions of this manuscript.

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  1. Dylan G. Fischer

    Present address: Lab II 3265, The Evergreen State College, 2700 Evergreen Parkway NW, Olympia, WA, 98505, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Natural Sciences and Sierra Nevada Research Institute, University of California, Merced, CA, 95344, USA

    Stephen C. Hart

  2. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, 37996, USA

    Jennifer A. Schweitzer

  3. Environmental Studies Department, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064, USA

    Paul C. Selmants

  4. Department of Biological Sciences and Merriam-Powell Center for Environmental Research, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, 86011, USA

    Thomas G. Whitham

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  1. Dylan G. Fischer
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  2. Stephen C. Hart
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Correspondence to Dylan G. Fischer.

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Responsible Editor: Herbert Johannes Kronzucker.

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Fischer, D.G., Hart, S.C., Schweitzer, J.A. et al. Soil nitrogen availability varies with plant genetics across diverse river drainages. Plant Soil 331, 391–400 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-009-0260-2

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