Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Nitrogen cycling in forest soils across climate gradients in Eastern China

  • Regular Article
  • Published:
Plant and Soil Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

A 15N tracing study was carried out to investigate the potential gross nitrogen (N) dynamics in thirteen forest soils in Eastern China ranging from temperate to tropical zones (five coniferous forests, six deciduous broad-leaf forests, one temperate mixed forest, one evergreen broad-leaf forests ecosystems), and to identify the major controlling factors on N cycling in these forest ecosystems. The soil pH ranged from 4.3 to 7.9 and soil organic carbon (SOC) ranged from 6.6 g kg−1 to 83.0 g kg−1. The potential gross N transformation rates were quantified by 15N tracing studies where either the ammonium or nitrate pools were 15N labeled in parallel treatments. Gross mineralization rates ranged from 0.915 μg N g−1 soil day−1 to 2.718 μg N g−1 soil day−1 in the studied forest soils. The average contribution of labile organic-N (M Nlab ) to total gross mineralization (M Nrec +M Nlab ) was 86% (58% to 99%), indicating that turnover of labile organic N plays a dominant role in the studied forest ecosystems. The gross mineralization rates in coniferous forest soils were significantly lower (ranging between 0.915 and 1.228 μg N g−1 soil day−1) compared to broad-leaf forest soils (ranging from 1.621 to 2.718 μg N g−1 soil day−1) (p < 0.01). Thus, the dominant vegetation may play an important role in regulating soil N mineralization. Nitrate production (nitrification) occurred via two pathways, oxidation of NH +4 and organic N the forest soils. Correlations with soil pH indicated that this is a key factor controlling the oxidation of NH +4 and organic N in theses forest ecosystems. NH +4 oxidation decreased with a decline in pH while organic N oxidation increased. The climatic conditions (e.g. moisture status) at the various sites governed the NO −3 -N consumption processes (dissimilatory NO −3 reduction to NH +4 (DNRA) or immobilization of NO −3 ). Total NO −3 consumption and the proportion of total NO −3 consumption to total NO −3 production decreased with an increase in the drought index of ecosystems, showing that strong interactions appear to exist between climatic condition (e.g. the drought index), N mineralization and the rate of DNRA. Interactions between vegetation, climatic conditions govern internal N cycling in these forests soils.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Arnold J, Corre MD, Veldkamp E (2008) Cold storage and laboratory incubation of intact soil cores do not reflect in-situ nitrogen cycling rates of tropical forest soils. Soil Biol Biochem 40:2480–2483

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Barraclough D, Puri G (1995) The use of 15N pool dilution and enrichment to separate the heterotrophic and autotrophic pathways of nitrification. Soil Biol Biochem 27:17–22

    Google Scholar 

  • Barrett JE, Burke IC (2000) Potential nitrogen immobilization in grassland soils across a soil organic matter gradient. Soil Biol Biochem 32:1707–1716

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Booth MS, Stark JM, Rastetter EB (2005) Controls on nitrogen cycling in terrestrial ecosystems: a synthetic analysis of literature data. Ecol Monogr 75:139–157

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burton J, Chen C, Xu Z, Ghadiri H (2007) Gross nitrogen transformations in adjacent native and plantation forests of subtropical Australia. Soil Biol Biochem 39:426–433

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Carmosinia N, Devitob KJ, Prepasc EE (2002) Gross nitrogen transformations in harvested and mature aspen-conifer mixed forest soils from the Boreal Plain. Soil Biol Biochem 34:1949–1951

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Castaldi S, Smith KA (1998) Effect of cycloheximide on N2O and NO −3 production in a forest and an agricultural soil. Biol Fertil Soils 27:27–34

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Chen N, Hong H, Zhang L (2008) Wet deposition of atmospheric nitrogen in Jiulong river watershed. Environ Sci 29:38–46 (in Chinese with English abstract)

    Google Scholar 

  • Corre MD, Dechert G, Veldkamp E (2006) Soil nitrogen cycling following montane forest conversion in central Sulawesi, Indonesia. Soil Sci Soc Am J 70:359–366

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Corre MD, Brumme R, Veldkamp E, Beese FO (2007) Changes in nitrogen cycling and retention processes in soils under spruce forests along a nitrogen enrichment gradient in Germany. Glob Chang Biol 13:1509–1527

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cox GM, Gibbons JM, Wood ATA, Craigon J, Ramsden SJ, Crout NMJ (2006) Towards the systematic simplification of mechanistic models. Ecol Model 198:240–246

    Google Scholar 

  • Davidson EA, Hart SC, Shanks CA, Firestone MK (1991) Measuring gross nitrogen mineralization, immobilization, and nitrification by 15N isotopic pool dilution in intact soil cores. J Soil Sci 42:335–349

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Doxtader KG, Alexander M (1966) Nitrification by heterotrophic soil microorganisms. Soil Sci Soc Am Proc 30:351–355

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ehrenfeld JG, Ravit B, Elgersma K (2005) Feedback in the plant-soil system. Annu Rev Environ Resour 30:75–115

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fan H, Liu W, Xie Y, Luan X, Chen Z, Xu L (2007) Dynamics of litter decomposition in Chinese fir plantation. J Nanchang Techno 26:1–4 (in Chinese, with English abstract)

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Feast NA, Dennis PE (1996) A comparison of methods for nitrogen isotope analysis of groundwater. Chem Geol 129:167–171

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Guo Z, Zhen J, Ma Y, Li Q, Yu G, Han S, Fan C, Liu W (2006a) Researches on litterfall decomposition rates and model simulating of main species in various forest vegetations of Changbai Mountains, China. Acta Ecol Sin 26:1037–1046 (in Chinese, with English abstract)

    Google Scholar 

  • Guo J, Yang Y, Chen G, Lin P, Xie J (2006b) A review on litter decomposition in forest ecosystem. Scientia Silvae Sinicae 42:93–100 (in Chinese, with English abstract)

    Google Scholar 

  • Hall SJ, Matson PA (2003) Nutrient status of tropical rain forests influences soil N dynamics after N additions. Ecol Monogr 73:107–129

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hart SC, Stark JM, Davidson EA, Firestone MK (1994) Nitrogen mineralization, immobilization, and nitrification. Methods of soil analysis part 2: microbiological and biochemical properties. Soil Sci. Soc. Am., Madison, USA, pp 985–1018

  • Hart SC, Binkley D, Perry DA (1997) Influence of red alder on soil nitrogen transformations in two conifer forests of contrasting productivity. Soil Biol Biochem 29:1111–1123

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Huygens D, Rütting T, Boeckx P, Van Cleemput O, Godoy R, Müller C (2007) Soil nitrogen conservation mechanisms in a pristine south Chilean Nothofagus forest ecosystem. Soil Biol Biochem 39:2448–2458

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Huygens D, Boeckx P, Templer P, Paulino L, Cleemput OV, Oyarzún C, Müller C, Godoy R (2008) Mechanisms for retention of bioavailable nitrogen in volcanic rainforest soils. Nat Geosci 1:543–548

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Islam A, Chen D, White RE (2007) Heterotrophic and autotrophic nitrification in two acid pasture soils. Soil Biol Biochem 39:972–975

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Killham K (1990) Nitrification in coniferous forest soils. Plant Soil 128:31–44

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kreitinger JP, Klein TM, Novick NJ, Alexander M (1985) Nitrification and characteristics of nitrifying microorganisms in an acid forest soil. Soil Sci Soc Am J 49:1407–1410

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lu RK (2000) Soil agro-chemical analyses. Agricultural Technical Press of China, Beijing (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Luxhøi J, Jensen LS (2005) Gross N mineralization–immobilization rates in heterogeneous intact soil cores can be estimated without marked error. Biol Fertil Soils 41:280–283

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mary B, Recous S, Robin D (1998) A model for calculating nitrogen fluxes in soil using 15N tracing. Soil Biol Biochem 30:1963–1979

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Müller C, Stevens RJ, Laughlin RJ (2004) A 15N tracing model to analyse N transformations in old grassland soil. Soil Biol Biochem 36:619–632

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Müller C, Stevens RJ, Laughlin RJ (2005) Response to comments by Luxhøi et al. to the paper “A 15N tracing model to analyse N transformations in old grassland soil. Soil Biol Biochem 37:1007–1008

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Müller C, Rütting T, Kattge J, Laughlin RJ, Stevens RJ (2007) Estimation of parameters in complex 15N tracing models via Monte Carlo sampling. Soil Biol Biochem 39:715–726

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Müller C, Rütting T, Abbasi MK, Laughlin RJ, Kammann C, Clough TJ, Sherlock RR, Kattge J, Jäger HJ, Watson CJ, Stevens RJ (2009) Effect of elevated CO2 on soil N dynamics in a temperate grassland soil. Soil Biol Biochem 41:1996–2001

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Paterson E (2003) Importance of rhizodeposition in the coupling of plant and microbial productivity. Eur J Soil Sci 54:741–750

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pedersen H, Dunkin KA, Firestone MK (1999) The relative importance of autotrophic and heterotrophic nitrification in a conifer forest soil as measured by N-15 tracer and pool dilution techniques. Biogeochemistry 44:135–150

    Google Scholar 

  • Perakis SS, Compton JE, Hedin LO (2005) Nitrogen retention across a gradient of 15N additions to an unpolluted temperate forest soil in Chile. Ecology 86:95–105

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rastetter EB, Agren GI, Shaver GR (1997) Responses of N-limited ecosystems to increased CO2: a balanced-nutrition, coupled-elementcycles model. Ecol Appl 7:444–460

    Google Scholar 

  • Russel AE, Raich JW, Vitousek PM (1998) The ecology of the climbing fern Dicranopteris linearis on windward Mouna Loa, Hawaii. J Ecol 86:765–779

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rütting T, Müller C (2007) 15N tracing models with a Monte Carlo optimization procedure provide new insights on gross N transformations in soils. Soil Biol Biochem 39:2351–2361

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rütting T, Huygens D, Müller C, van Cleemput O, Godoy R, Boeckx P (2008) Functional role of DNRA and nitrite reduction in a pristine south Chilean Nothofagus forest. Biogeochemistry 90:243–258

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schimel J (1996) Assumptions and errors in the 15NH4+ pool dilution technique for measuring mineralization and immobilization. Soil Biol Biochem 28:827–828

    Google Scholar 

  • Silver WL, Herman DJ, Firestone MK (2001) Dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium in upland tropical forest soils. Ecology 82(9):2410–2416

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Silver WL, Thompson AW, Reich A, Ewel JJ, Firestone MK (2005) Nitrogen cycling in tropical plantation forests: potential controls on nitrogen retention. Ecol Appl 15(5):1604–1614

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sotta ED, Corre MD, Veldkamp E (2008) Differing N status and N retention processes of soils under old-growth lowland forest in Eastern Amazonia, Caxiuanã, Brazil. Soil Biol Biochem 40:740–750

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Stark JM (2000) Nutrient transformations. In: Sala OE, Jackson RB, Mooney HA, Howarth RW (eds) Methods in ecosystem science. Springer, New York, pp 215–234

    Google Scholar 

  • Stark JM, Hart SC (1997) High rates of nitrification and nitrate turnover in undisturbed coniferous forests. Nature 385:61–64

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Stroo HF, Klein TM, Alexander M (1986) Heterotrophic nitrification in an acid forest soil and by an acid-tolerant fungus. Appl Environ Microb 52:1107–1111

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sun Z, Liu J, Wang J (2007) Dynamics of nitrogen in the atmospheric wet deposition and its ecological effects in typical wetland ecosystem of Sanjiang plain. Advances In Water Science 18:182–192 (in Chinese with English abstract)

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tiedje JM (1988) Ecology of denitrification and dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonia. In: Zehnder AJB (ed) Biology of anaerobic microorganisms. Wiley, New York, pp 245–267

    Google Scholar 

  • Vitousek PM, Matson PAM (1988) Nitrogen transformations in a range of tropical forest soils. Soil Biol Biochem 20:361–367

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Vitousek PM, Reiners WA (1975) Ecosystem succession and nutrient retention: a hypothesis. Bioscience 25:376–381

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Vitousek P, Sanford R (1986) Nutrient cycling in moist tropical forest. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 17:137–167

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vitousek PM, Gosz JR, Grier CC, Melillo JM, Reiners WA, Todd RL (1979) Nitrate losses from disturbed ecosystems. Science 204:469–474

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wang WC, Smith CJ, Chalk PM, Chen D (2001) Evaluating chemical and physical indices of nitrogen mineralization capacity with an unequivocal reference. Soil Sci Soc Am J 65:368–376

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wang L, Wang J, Huang J (2003) Comparison of major nutrient release patterns of Quercus liaotungensis leaf litter decomposition in different climatic zones. Acta Bot Sin 45:399–407

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Weber DF, Gainey PL (1962) Relative sensitivity of nitrifying organisms to hydrogen ions in soils and solutions. Soil Sci 94:138–145

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wood PM (1990) Autotrophic and heterotrophic mechanisms for ammonia oxidation. Soil Use Manage 6:78–79

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wu Y, Ma B, Zhou L, Wang H, Xu J, Kemmitt S, Brookes PC (2009) Changes in the soil microbial community structure with latitude in eastern China, based on phospholipid fatty acid analysis. Appl Soil Ecol 43:234–240

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yu W, Ma Q, Zhang L, Zhou H (2008) Dyanmic changes of nitrogen in precipitation in lower reach of Liaohe river plain. Chinese J Ecol 27:33–37 (in Chinese with English abstract)

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zak DR (1994) Plant production and soil microorganisms in late-successional ecosystems: A continental-scale study. Ecology 75:2333–2347

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang X, Li C (2008) Wet deposition of atmospheric nitrogen and its eutrophication effect on Xihu Lake, Huizhou City. Chinese J Ecol Agr 16:16–19 (in Chinese with English abstract)

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang Y, Liu X, Zhang F, Ju X, Zou G, Hu K (2006) Spatial and temporal variation of atmospheric nitrogen deposition in North China Plain. Acta Ecol Sin 26:1633–1639 (in Chinese with English abstract)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang JB, Cai ZC, Cheng Y, Zhu TB (2009) Denitrification and total nitrogen gas production from forest soils of Eastern China. Soil Biol Biochem 41:2551–2557

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zhao Y, Wu Z, Fan W, Gao X (2009) Comparison of nutrient return and litter decomposition between coniferous and broad-leaved forests in hilly region of Taihang mountains. J Nat Res 24:1616–1624 (in Chinese, with English abstract)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work is founded by Projects of National Natural Science Foundation of China (40830531 and 40921061) and the Knowledge Innovation Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (KZCX2-YW-QN405). Thanks Dr. Huang Jingyu in College of environmental science and engineering Hohai University for 15N abundance analysis.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Soil and Sustainable Agriculture, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, 210008, China

    Jinbo Zhang, Tongbin Zhu & Zucong Cai

  2. Department of Plant Ecology, Justus-Liebig University Giessen, Heinrich-Buff-Ring 26, 35392, Giessen, Germany

    Christoph Müller

  3. School of Biology and Environmental Science, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

    Christoph Müller

Authors
  1. Jinbo Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Tongbin Zhu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Zucong Cai
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Christoph Müller
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Zucong Cai.

Additional information

Responsible Editor: Klaus Butterbach-Bahl.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Zhang, J., Zhu, T., Cai, Z. et al. Nitrogen cycling in forest soils across climate gradients in Eastern China. Plant Soil 342, 419–432 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-010-0706-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-010-0706-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation