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Mechanisms behind plant diversity effects on inorganic and organic N leaching from temperate grassland

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Abstract

Higher plant diversity reduces nitrate leaching by complementary resource use, while its relation to leaching of other N species is unclear. We determined the effects of plant species richness, functional group richness, and the presence of specific functional groups on ammonium, dissolved organic N (DON), and total dissolved N (TDN) leaching from grassland in the first 4 years after conversion from fertilized arable land to unfertilized grassland. On 62 experimental plots in Jena, Germany, with 1–60 plant species and 1–4 functional groups (legumes, grasses, tall herbs, small herbs), nitrate, ammonium, and TDN concentrations in soil solution (0–0.3 m soil layer) were measured fortnightly during 4 years. DON concentrations were calculated by subtracting inorganic N from TDN. Nitrogen concentrations were multiplied with modeled downward water fluxes to obtain N leaching. DON leaching contributed most to TDN leaching (64 ± SD 4% of TDN). Ammonium leaching was unaffected by plant diversity. Increasing species richness decreased DON leaching in the fourth year. We attribute this finding to enhanced use of DON as a C and N source and enhanced mineralization of DON by soil microorganisms. An increase of species richness decreased TDN leaching likely driven by the complementary use of nitrate by diverse mixtures. Legumes increased DON and TDN leaching likely because of their N\(_{2}\)-fixing ability and higher litter production. Grasses decreased TDN leaching because of more exhaustive use of nitrate and water. Our results demonstrate that increasing plant species richness decreases leaching of DON and TDN.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the many people who helped with the management of the experiment and in particular the initiators, E.-D. Schulze, B. Schmid, and W. W. Weisser, and the scientific coordinator A. Ebeling. We are grateful to V. M. Temperton for her comments on the manuscript. Thanks to all the helpers who assisted during the weeding campaigns. We thank the two reviewers for their helpful comments. The Jena Experiment is funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, FOR 456 & 1451, Wi 1601/4) and the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF, 200021E-131195/1), with additional support from the Friedrich Schiller University Jena and the Max Planck Society.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Geography and Geoecology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Kaiserstr. 12, 76131, Karlsruhe, Germany

    Sophia Leimer & Wolfgang Wilcke

  2. Geoecology, University of Tübingen, Rümelinstr. 19-23, 72070, Tübingen, Germany

    Yvonne Oelmann

  3. German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Deutscher Platz 5e, 04103, Leipzig, Germany

    Nico Eisenhauer, Christiane Roscher, Alexandra Weigelt & Christian Wirth

  4. Institute of Biology, University of Leipzig, Johannisallee 21, 04103, Leipzig, Germany

    Nico Eisenhauer

  5. CNRS, Ecotron - UPS 3248, Campus Baillarguet, 34980, Montferrier-sur-Lez, France

    Alexandru Milcu

  6. Physiological Diversity, UFZ, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Permoserstr. 15, 04318, Leipzig, Germany

    Christiane Roscher

  7. JFB Institute of Zoology and Anthropology, Georg August University Göttingen, Berliner Str. 28, 37073, Göttingen, Germany

    Stefan Scheu

  8. Institute of Biology, Special Botany and Functional Biodiversity Research, University of Leipzig, Johannisallee 21-23, 04103, Leipzig, Germany

    Alexandra Weigelt & Christian Wirth

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  1. Sophia Leimer
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  2. Yvonne Oelmann
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Correspondence to Sophia Leimer.

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Leimer, S., Oelmann, Y., Eisenhauer, N. et al. Mechanisms behind plant diversity effects on inorganic and organic N leaching from temperate grassland. Biogeochemistry 131, 339–353 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-016-0283-8

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