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Biogeochemical Change During Climate-Driven Afforestation: A Paleoecological Perspective from the Rocky Mountains

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Abstract

Shifts in an ecosystem’s state can alter biogeochemical cycling and the extent of nutrient conservation within a terrestrial landscape on multiple time scales. Transient biogeochemical changes may follow disturbance and succession, although persistent long-term differences may exist under different climates and vegetation types. We evaluate the potential for such biogeochemical changes in the context of long-term ecological history by measuring the nitrogen isotope composition of organic matter in a lake sediment core. We targeted Little Windy Hill Pond (LWH) in the Medicine Bow Mountains, Wyoming because reconstructions of the lake level, fire, and vegetation histories from the lacustrine sediments indicated a century-scale transformation from an arid, shrub-dominated landscape to a sub-alpine, tree-dominated ecosystem with extensive woody cover and large, live biomass pools. We demonstrate that the afforestation at the beginning of the Holocene transformed the Artemisia-dominated ecosystem, which had persisted for millennia during the Pleistocene. The changes affected nitrogen cycling dynamics, especially through intensified nutrient conservation when live biomass pools increased with greater woody cover. The LWH sediments record a baseline δ15N shift from 2.2–3.0 to 0.3–2.0‰ as less 15N-enriched organic matter accumulated in the lake. We also observed a transient pattern of maximum nutrient conservation and minimum δ15N values as terrestrial biomass increased during the aggradation (~175 years) and transition phases of ecological succession. Our nitrogen isotope results support theoretical expectations of long-term biogeochemical dynamics as nutrient conservation increases during afforestation.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the funding through NSF grants from Geography and Spatial Sciences (CAREER Award BCS-0845129) and Ecosystems (DEB-0816731) provided to BNS to conduct this research. The authors wish to thank A.K. Henderson and J.A. Fredrickson for their assistance in the field and lab, as well as the Univ. of Wyoming Stable Isotope Facility for providing analytical assistance. SLK was funded by NSF BCS 0845129 (to BNS) and the Univ. of Chicago T.C. Chamberlin Fellowship.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Wyoming, 1000 University Ave., Laramie, Wyoming, 82071, USA

    Sora L. Kim, Bryan N. Shuman & Jeremiah P. Marsicek

  2. Department of Geography, University of Wyoming, 1000 University Ave., Laramie, Wyoming, 82071, USA

    Thomas A. Minckley

  3. Department of Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago, 5734 S. Ellis Ave., Chicago, Illinois, 60637, USA

    Sora L. Kim

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  1. Sora L. Kim
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  2. Bryan N. Shuman
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Correspondence to Sora L. Kim.

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Author contributions

BNS and TAM conceived the study; BNS, TAM, and JPM performed the research; SLK and BNS analyzed data and wrote the paper.

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Kim, S.L., Shuman, B.N., Minckley, T.A. et al. Biogeochemical Change During Climate-Driven Afforestation: A Paleoecological Perspective from the Rocky Mountains. Ecosystems 19, 615–624 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-015-9955-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-015-9955-9

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