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Precipitation variability does not affect soil respiration and nitrogen dynamics in the understorey of a Mediterranean oak woodland

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Abstract

Background and aims

Future climate scenarios for the Mediterranean imply increasing precipitation variability. This study presents a large-scale water manipulation experiment simulating changes in precipitation variability, aiming at a better understanding of the effects of rainfall patterns on soil C and N cycling and understorey productivity in a Mediterranean oak woodland.

Methods

We used rain-out shelters to achieve (1) a normal dry period (7 days), and (2) a dry period increased three-fold (21 days), without altering total annual precipitation inputs.

Results

The temporal patterns of soil respiration (R s) and soil inorganic N were not affected by treatment. However, water infiltration and N leaching increased with large infrequent watering events. R s and soil NH4 +-N correlated with soil temperature, with soil NO3 −-N being influenced by leaching.

Conclusions

The lack of significant treatment effects on either R s or soil inorganic N can be explained by (1) minor differences in plant productivity between the treatments, suggesting equal plant N demand, and (2) the absence of moisture dependence of R s and soil NH4 +-N. Increased N leaching with large infrequent precipitation events may have longer-term consequences for ecosystem functioning. Our results contribute to an improved understanding of possible climate change effects on key ecosystem processes in Mediterranean ecosystems.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the financial support of FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia), through the project PTDC/CLI/64480/2006 and through postdoctoral fellowships to Marjan Jongen (SFRH/BPD/79662/2011) and David Fangueiro (SFRH/BPD/84229/2012). The authors wish to thank António Gonçalves Ferreira for providing the field site at Machoqueira do Grou, the staff of Machoqueira do Grou, especially Mr. Pirra, for continuous support to the work, Filipe Costa e Silva, Joaquim Mendes, Francesco Minunno and Alexandra Correia for assisting with the construction of the rain-out shelters, Prof. Fernando Monteiro for the measurements of wilting point, Marta Pintó-Marijuan and Elsa Breia for valuable support in the laboratory, and Peter Fay for suggestions on the manuscript.

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  1. Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Universidade Técnica de Lisboa, Tapada da Ajuda, 1349-017, Lisbon, Portugal

    Marjan Jongen, Xavier Lecomte, David Fangueiro & João Santos Pereira

  2. Department of Experimental and Systems Ecology, University of Bielefeld, Universitätsstr. 25, 33615, Bielefeld, Germany

    Stephan Unger

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  1. Marjan Jongen
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Correspondence to Marjan Jongen.

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Jongen, M., Lecomte, X., Unger, S. et al. Precipitation variability does not affect soil respiration and nitrogen dynamics in the understorey of a Mediterranean oak woodland. Plant Soil 372, 235–251 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-013-1728-7

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