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Nitrogen mineralization peaks under closed canopy during the natural forest development cycle of an old-growth temperate spruce forest

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
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Abstract

• Context

Old-growth forests with natural forest development and complex stand structure have become extremely rare in Central Europe. Changes of biogeochemistry and the N cycle across a full forest development cycle are not well understood.

• Aims

We tested the hypothesis that net N mineralization and the relative importance of nitrification are increasing with proceeding forest development from regeneration to decay stages.

• Methods

In an unmanaged old-growth spruce forest, we measured net ammonification and nitrification rate in the five forest development stages in 2 years using the intact soil core incubation method.

• Results

Net N mineralization (and ammonification) rates were higher in the closed stands of the optimum and over-mature stages than in the more open decay and regeneration stages. Only a small proportion of NH4 + was oxidized to NO3 − in the studied acidic soils.

• Conclusion

Lower N mineralization in the more open than the closed patches of this natural forest is unexpected, contrasting with the findings from artificial gaps. Possible reasons are reduced litter supply and lower canopy N interception in gaps in this forest under exposure to high N deposition. Further studies in other old-growth forests are needed to better understand the mechanisms causing long-term change in N cycling with forest development.

• Key message

Nitrogen mineralization was higher in the optimum and over-mature stages with closed canopy than in the more open decay and regeneration stages of an unmanaged old-growth forest with high atmospheric nitrogen load, in contrast to published experiments with artificial gaps.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the Harz National Park administration and to Dr. H.-U. Kison in particular, for granting permissions and manifold support of our work. H. Calvete Sogo assisted during the laboratory analyses; the help is gratefully acknowledged. We thank Prof. Dr. Cindy E. Prescott (Vancouver) and an unknown reviewer for their helpful comments on the manuscript.

Funding

This study was funded by the Stemmler Foundation, a member of the Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft with a grant to M. Hauck and C. Leuschner. The grant was approved in the framework of the Stifterverband program ‘Biodiversity and Ecology in National Parks (BEN)’.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Plant Ecology, Albrecht von Haller Institute for Plant Sciences, University of Göttingen, Untere Karspüle 2, 37073, Göttingen, Germany

    Claudia Bade, Mascha Jacob, Christoph Leuschner & Markus Hauck

  2. Geoecology and Physical Geography, Institute for Environmental Sciences, University of Koblenz-Landau, Fortstraße 7, 76829, Landau, Germany

    Hermann F. Jungkunst

Authors
  1. Claudia Bade
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  2. Mascha Jacob
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  3. Hermann F. Jungkunst
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  4. Christoph Leuschner
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  5. Markus Hauck
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mascha Jacob.

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Handling Editor: Erwin Dreyer

Contribution of the co-authors

MH and CL designed the study, CB conducted the field and laboratory work, MJ, MH, HFJ supervised the work, MJ coordinated the research project, CB, MJ, HFJ, CL and MH wrote the paper.

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Bade, C., Jacob, M., Jungkunst, H.F. et al. Nitrogen mineralization peaks under closed canopy during the natural forest development cycle of an old-growth temperate spruce forest. Annals of Forest Science 72, 67–76 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13595-014-0394-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13595-014-0394-0

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