Abstract
Annual inputs of symbiotic N2-fixation associated with 3 species of alpine Trifolium were estimated in four alpine communities differing in resource supplies. We hypothesized that fixation rates would vary according to the degree of N, P, and water limitation of production, with the higher rates of fixation in N limited communities (dry meadow, moist meadow) and lower rates in P and water limited communities (wet meadow, fellfield). To estimate N2-fixation rates, natural abundance of N isotopes (δ15N) were measured in field collected Trifolium and reference plants and in Trifolium plants grown in N-free medium in a growth chamber. All three Trifolium species relied on a large proportion of atmospherically-fixed N2 to meet their N requirements, ranging from 70 to 100%. There were no apparent differences in the proportion of plant N derived from fixation among the communities, but differences in the contribution of the Trifolium species to community cover resulted in a wide range of annual N inputs from fixation, from 127 mg m−2 year−1 in wet meadows to 810 mg m−2 year−1 in fellfields. Annual spatially integrated input of symbiotic N2-fixation to Niwot Ridge, Colorado was estimated at 490 mg m−2 year−1 (5 kg ha−1 year−1), which is relatively high in the context of estimates of net N mineralization and N deposition.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alexander V, Billington M, Schell DM (1978) Nitrogen fixation in arctic and alpine tundra. In: Tieszen LL (ed) Vegetation and production ecology of an Alaskan arctic tundra. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York, pp 539–558
Billings WD (1988) Alpine vegetation. In: Barbour MG, Billings WD (eds) North American terrestrial vegetation. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 391–420
Binkley D, Sollins P McGill WB (1985) Natural abundance of nitrogen-15 as a tool for tracing alder-fixed nitrogen. Soi Sci Soc Am J 49:444–447
Boring LR, Swank WT, Waide JB, Henderson GS (1988) Sources, fates, and impacts of nitrogen inputs to terrestrial ecosystems: review and synthesis. Biogeochemistry 6:119–159
Bowman WD (1992) Inputs and strorage of nitrogen in winter snowpack in an alpine ecosystem. Arct Alp Res: 24:211–215
Bowman WD (1994) Accumulation and use of nitrogen and phosphorus following fertilization in two alpine tundra communities. Oikos 70:261–270
Bowman WD, Theodose TA, Schardt JC, Conant RT (1993) Constraints of nutrient availability on primary production in two alpine tundra communities. Ecology 74:2085–2097
Bowman WD, Theodose TA, Fisk MC (1995) Physiological and production responses of plant growth forms to increases in limiting resources in lpine tundra: Implications for differential community response to environmental change. Oecologia 101:217–227
Chapin DM, Bliss LC, Bledsoe LJ (1992) Nitrogen fixation in arctic plant communities. In: Chapin FS III, Jeffries R, Reynolds JF, Shaver GR, Svoboda J (eds) Arctic ecosystems in a changing climate: an ecophysiological perspective. Academic Press, New York, pp 301–319
Chapin FS III, Moilanen L, Kielland K (1993) Preferential use of organic nitrogen by a non-mycorrhizal arctic sedge. Nature 361:150–153
Chapin FS III, Walker LR, Fastie CL, Sharman LC (1994) Mechanisms of primary succession following deglaciation in Glacier Bay, Alaska. Ecol Monogr 64:149–175
Crocker RL, Major J (1955) Soil development in relation to vegetation and surface age at Glacier Bay, Alaska. J Ecol 43:427–448
Daubenmire RF (1941) Some ecological features of the subterranean organs of alpine plants. Ecology 22:370–378
Ehleringer JR, Rundel PW (1989) Stable isotopes: history, units, and instrumentation. In: Ehleringer JR, Nagy KA (eds) Stable isotopes in ecology (Ecological studies, vol. 68). Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York, pp 1–16
Ehleringer JR, Mooney HA, Rundel PW, Evans RD, Palma B (1992) Lack of nitrogen cycling in the Atacama Desert. Nature 359:316
Fisk MC (1995) Nitrogen dynamics in an alpine landscape. PhD thesis, University of Colorado, Boulder
Fisk MC, Schmidt S K (1995) Nitrogen mineralization and microbial biomass nitrogen dynamics in three alpine tundra communities. Soil Sci Soc Am J 59:1036–1043
Garten CT (1993) Variation in foliar 15N abundance and the availability of soil nitrogen on Walker Branch watershed. Ecology 74:2098–2113
Gebauer G, Schulze E-D (1991) Carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios in different compartments of a healthy and a declining Picea abies forest in the Fichtelgebirge, NE Bavaria. Oecologia 87:198–207
Gorham E, Vitousek PM, Reiners WA (1979) The regulation of chemical budgets over the course of ecosystem development. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 10:53–84
Granhall U, Lid-Torsvik V (1975) Nitrogen fixation by bacteria and free-living blue-green algae in tundra areas. In: Wielgolaski FE (ed) Fennoscandian tundra ecosystems, part 1. Plants and microorganisms (Ecological studies, vol. 16). Springer, New York, pp 305–315
Hansen AP, Pate JS (1987) Evaluation of the 15N abundance method and xylem sap analysis for assessing the N2-fixation of understorey legumes in jarrah (Eucalyptus marginata Dann ex Sm.) forest in S.W. Australia. J Exp Bot 38:26–41
Holzmann H-P, Haselwandter K (1988) Contribution of nitrogen fixation to nitrogen nutrition in an alpine sedge community (Caricetum curvulae) Oecologia 76:298–302
Johansen A, Jakobsen I, Jensen ES (1993) External hyphae of vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi associated with Trifolium subterraneum L. 3. Hyphal transport of 32P and 15N. New Phytol 124:61–68
Johnson DA, Rumbaugh MD (1986) Field nodulation and acetylene reduction activity of high-altitude legumes in the western United States Arct Alp Res 18:171–179
Jordan DC (1984) Rhizobium. In: Krieg NL, Holt JG (eds) Bergey's manual of systematic bacteriology, vol 1. Williams and Wilkens, Baltimore, pp 235–242
Karagatzides JD, Lewis MC, Schulman HM (1985) Nitrogen fixation in high arctic tundra at Sarcpa Lake, Northwest Territories. Can J Bot 63:974–979
Kendall C, Campbell DH, Burns DA, Shanley JB, Silva SR, Chang CY (1995) Tracing sources of nitrate in snowmelt runoff using the oxygen and nitrogen isotopic compositions of nitrate. In: Tonneson KA, Williams MW, Tranter M (eds) Biogeochemistry of seasonally snow-covered catchments (IAHSAIHS publication 228). International Association of Hydrological Sciences, Wallingford, pp 339–347
Komárková V (1979) Alpine vegetation of the Indian Peaks area, Front Range, Colorado Rocky Mountain (Flora et vegetatio mundi, vol VII). J Cramer, Vaduz
Lewis WM Jr, Grant MC (1980) Evidence for acid precipitation in the western. U.S. Science 207:176–177
Marion GM, Miller PC (1982) Nitrogen mineralization in a tussock tundra soil. Arct Alp Res 14:287–293
May DE, Webber PJ (1982) Spatial and temporal variation of vegetation and its productivity on Niwot Ridge, Colorado. In: Halfpenny J (ed) Ecological studies in the Colorado alpine, a festschrift for John W. Marr (Occasional paper 37). Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado, Boulder, pp 35–62
Mullen MD, Israel DW, Wollum AG (1988), Effects of Bradyrhizobium japonicum and soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) phosphorus nutrition on nodulation and dinitrogen fixation. Appl Environ Microbiol 54:2387–2392
Nadelhoffer KJ, Fry B (1988) Controls on natural nitrogen-15 and carbon-13 abundances in forest soil organic matter. Soil Sci Soc Am J 52:1633–1640
Neves MCP, Hungria M (1987) The physiology of nitrogen fixation in tropical grain legumes. CRC CAD Rev Plant Sci 6:267–321
Oberbauer S, Billings WD (1981) Drought tolerance and water use by plants along an alpine topographic gradient. Oecologia 50: 325–331
Parrish DD, Norton RB, Bollinger MJ, Liu SC, Murphy PC, Albritton DL, Fehsenfeld FC (1986) Measurement of HNO3 and NO3-at a rural site in the Colorado mountains. J Geophys Res 91:5379–5393
Pate JS (1989) Synthesis; transport, and utilization of products of symbiotic nitrogen fixation. In: Poulton JE, Romero JT, Conn EE (eds) Plant nitrogen metabolism. Plenum, New York, pp 65–119
Shearer G, Kohl DH (1986) N2-fixation in field settings: estimations based on natural 15N abundance. Aust J Plant Physiol 13:699–756
Shearer G, Kohl DH, Virginia RA, Bryan BA, Skeeters JN, Nilsen ET, Sharifi MR, Rundel PW (1983) Estimates of N2-fixation from variation in the natural abundance of 15N in Sonoran Desert ecosystems. Oecologia 56:365–373
Sievering H, Burton D, Caine N (1992) Atmospheric loading to Rocky Mountain alpine tundra and a subalpine coniferous forest. Global Biogeochem Cycles 6:339–345
Sprent JI (1985) Nitrogen fixation in arid environments. In: Wickens GE, Goodin JR, Field DV (eds) Plants for arid lands. George Allen & Unwin, London, pp 215–229
Sprent JI, Sprent P (1990) Nitrogen fixing organisms. Pure and applied aspects. Chapman and Hall, New York
Stock WD, Wienand KT, Baker AC (1995) Impacts of invading N2-fixing Acacia species on patterns of nutrient cycling in two Cape ecosystems: evidence from soil incubation studies and 15N natural abundance values. Oecologia 101:375–382
Theodose TA (1995) Interspecific plant competition in alpine tundra. PhD thesis, University of Colorado, Boulder
Van Cleve K, Alexander V (1981) Nitrogen cycling in tundra and boreal ecosystems. In: Clark FE, Rosswall T (eds) Terrestrial nitrogen cycles. Ecol Bull 33:375–404
Virginia RA, Delwiche CC (1981) Natural 15N abundance of presumed N2-fixing and non-N2-fixing plants from selected ecosystems. Oecologia 54:317–325
Vitousek PM, Walker LR, Whiteaker LD, Mueller-Dumbois D, Matson PA (1987) Biological invasion by Myrica faya alters ecosystem development in Hawaii. Science 238:802–804
Vitousek PM, Shearer G, Kohl DH (1989) Foliar 15N natural abundance in Hawaiian rainforest: patterns and possible mechanisms. Oecologia 78:383–388
Walker DA, Halfpenny JC, Walker MD, Wessman CA (1993) Long-term studies of snow-vegetation interactions. BioScience 43:287–301
Walker MD, Webber PJ, Arnold EH, May DE (1994) Effects on interannual climate variation on aboveground phytomass in alpine vegetation. Ecology 75:393–408
Wilkinson L (1990) SYSTAT: the system for statistics. SYSTAT, Evanston
Wojciechowski MF, Heimbrook ME (1984) Dinitrogen fixation in alpine tundra, Niwot Ridge, Front Range, Colorado, U.S.A. Arct Alp Res 16:1–10
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bowman, W.D., Schardt, J.C. & Schmidt, S.K. Symbiotic N2-fixation in alpine tundra: ecosystem input and variation in fixation rates among communities. Oecologia 108, 345–350 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00334660
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00334660