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Urbanization effects on soil nitrogen transformations and microbial biomass in the subtropics

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Abstract

As urbanization can involve multiple alterations to the soil environment, it is uncertain how urbanization effects soil nitrogen cycling. We established 22–0.04 ha plots in six different land cover types—rural slash pine (Pinus elliottii) plantations (n = 3), rural natural pine forests (n = 3), rural natural oak forests (n = 4), urban pine forests (n = 3), urban oak forests (n = 4) and urban lawns (n = 5) to investigate how net soil nitrogen mineralization rates and soil microbial biomass differed between urban forests and rural forests and between urban forests and urban lawns in the Florida panhandle. Urban forest sites have 2.5 times as much net total nitrogen mineralized than rural forest sites based on the mean daily rates averaged over the 2 years study (2010–2012). Urbanization may increase soil microbial biomass and activity (potential carbon mineralization rates) and this may be influencing the soil nitrogen mineralization rates in the forest sites. To include an urban lawn (turfgrass) component in the study, one time measurements of soils from the aforementioned forest sites and from urban lawn sites (no fertilization, no irrigation) were collected in 2012. Urban forest sites and urban lawns sites do not differ in their potential carbon mineralization rates, potential net total nitrogen mineralization rates or microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen contents. However, lawns have a higher potential net nitrification rate compared to urban forests.

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Acknowledgments

Funding for this research was provided by the USDA Forest Service (grant number G00004859) and the Center for Forest Sustainability at Auburn University. We would like to thank Tate’s Hell State Park and Jerry Pitts, Florida Fish and Wildlife Box R Wildlife Management Area, for access to study sites. We would like to thank Robin Governo and Lori Eckhardt for providing key assistance in the lab. We would also like to thank Jake Blackstock, Megan Bloodworth, Andrew Parsons, Camilla Melanie Nova Costa and Catherine Justice for additional help in the field and in the lab.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Soil and Water Science Department, University of Florida, PO Box 110290, Gainesville, FL, 32611-0290, USA

    Heather A. Enloe

  2. School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences, Auburn University, 602 Duncan Drive, Auburn, AL, 36849-5418, USA

    B. Graeme Lockaby & Greg L. Somers

  3. USDA Forest Service, Southern Research Station, P.O. Box 110806, Gainesville, FL, 32611-0806, USA

    Wayne C. Zipperer

Authors
  1. Heather A. Enloe
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  2. B. Graeme Lockaby
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  3. Wayne C. Zipperer
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  4. Greg L. Somers
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Correspondence to Heather A. Enloe.

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Enloe, H.A., Lockaby, B.G., Zipperer, W.C. et al. Urbanization effects on soil nitrogen transformations and microbial biomass in the subtropics. Urban Ecosyst 18, 963–976 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-015-0462-8

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