TY - JOUR
T1 - From missing source to missing sink
T2 - Long-term changes in the nitrogen budget of a northern hardwood forest
AU - Yanai, Ruth D.
AU - Vadeboncoeur, Matthew A.
AU - Hamburg, Steven P.
AU - Arthur, Mary A.
AU - Fuss, Colin B.
AU - Groffman, Peter M.
AU - Siccama, Thomas G.
AU - Driscoll, Charles T.
PY - 2013/10/15
Y1 - 2013/10/15
N2 - Biogeochemical monitoring for 45 years at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in New Hampshire has revealed multiple surprises, seeming contradictions, and unresolved questions in the long-term record of ecosystem nitrogen dynamics. From 1965 to 1977, more N was accumulating in living biomass than was deposited from the atmosphere; the "missing" N source was attributed to biological fixation. Since 1992, biomass accumulation has been negligible or even negative, and streamwater export of dissolved inorganic N has decreased from ∼4 to ∼1 kg of N ha-1 year-1, despite chronically elevated atmospheric N deposition (∼7 kg of N ha-1 year-1) and predictions of N saturation. Here we show that the ecosystem has shifted to a net N sink, either storing or denitrifying ∼8 kg of N ha-1 year-1. Repeated sampling over 25 years shows that the forest floor is not detectably accumulating N, but the C:N ratio is increasing. Mineral soil N has decreased nonsignificantly in recent decades, but the variability of these measurements prevents detection of a change of <700 kg of N ha-1. Whether the excess N is accumulating in the ecosystem or lost through denitrification will be difficult to determine, but the distinction has important implications for the local ecosystem and global climate.
AB - Biogeochemical monitoring for 45 years at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in New Hampshire has revealed multiple surprises, seeming contradictions, and unresolved questions in the long-term record of ecosystem nitrogen dynamics. From 1965 to 1977, more N was accumulating in living biomass than was deposited from the atmosphere; the "missing" N source was attributed to biological fixation. Since 1992, biomass accumulation has been negligible or even negative, and streamwater export of dissolved inorganic N has decreased from ∼4 to ∼1 kg of N ha-1 year-1, despite chronically elevated atmospheric N deposition (∼7 kg of N ha-1 year-1) and predictions of N saturation. Here we show that the ecosystem has shifted to a net N sink, either storing or denitrifying ∼8 kg of N ha-1 year-1. Repeated sampling over 25 years shows that the forest floor is not detectably accumulating N, but the C:N ratio is increasing. Mineral soil N has decreased nonsignificantly in recent decades, but the variability of these measurements prevents detection of a change of <700 kg of N ha-1. Whether the excess N is accumulating in the ecosystem or lost through denitrification will be difficult to determine, but the distinction has important implications for the local ecosystem and global climate.
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U2 - 10.1021/es4025723
DO - 10.1021/es4025723
M3 - Article
C2 - 24050261
AN - SCOPUS:84886940949
SN - 0013-936X
VL - 47
SP - 11440
EP - 11448
JO - Environmental Science and Technology
JF - Environmental Science and Technology
IS - 20
ER -