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Land-use change effects on soil C and N transformations in soils of high N status: comparisons under indigenous forest, pasture and pine plantation

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Abstract

Globally, land-use change is occurring rapidly, and impacts on biogeochemical cycling may be influenced by previous land uses. We examined differences in soil C and N cycling during long-term laboratory incubations for the following land-use sequence: indigenous forest (soil age = 1800 yr); 70-year-old pasture planted after forest clearance; 22-year-old pine (Pinus radiata) planted into pasture. No N fertilizer had been applied but the pasture contained N-fixing legumes. The sites were adjacent and received 3–6 kg ha−1 yr−1“volcanic” N in rain; NO3 −-N leaching losses to streamwater were 5–21 kg ha−1 yr−1, and followed the order forest < pasture = pine. Soil C concentration in 0–10 cm mineral soil followed the order: pasture > pine = forest, and total N: pasture > pine > forest. Nitrogen mineralization followed the order: pasture > pine > forest for mineral soil, and was weakly related to C mineralization. Based on radiocarbon data, the indigenous forest 0–10 cm soil contained more pre-bomb C than the other soils, partly as a result of microbial processing of recent C in the surface litter layer. Heterotrophic activity appeared to be somewhat N limited in the indigenous forest soil, and gross nitrification was delayed. In contrast, the pasture soil was rich in labile N arising from N fixation by clover, and net nitrification occurred readily. Gross N cycling rates in the pine mineral soil (per unit N) were similar to those under pasture, reflecting the legacy of N inputs by the previous pasture. Change in land use from indigenous forest to pasture and pine resulted in increased gross nitrification, net nitrification and thence leaching of NO3 −-N.

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Authors
  1. R.L. Parfitt
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  2. N.A. Scott
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  3. D.J. Ross
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  4. G.J. Salt
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  5. K.R. Tate
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Parfitt, R., Scott, N., Ross, D. et al. Land-use change effects on soil C and N transformations in soils of high N status: comparisons under indigenous forest, pasture and pine plantation. Biogeochemistry 66, 203–221 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:BIOG.0000005324.37711.63

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