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The effect of hydraulic lift on organic matter decomposition, soil nitrogen cycling, and nitrogen acquisition by a grass species

  • Physiological ecology - Original Paper
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Abstract

Hydraulic lift (HL) is the passive movement of water through plant roots, driven by gradients in water potential. The greater soil–water availability resulting from HL may in principle lead to higher plant nutrient uptake, but the evidence for this hypothesis is not universally supported by current experiments. We grew a grass species common in North America in two-layer pots with three treatments: (1) the lower layer watered, the upper one unwatered (HL), (2) both layers watered (W), and (3) the lower layer watered, the upper one unwatered, but with continuous light 24 h a day to limit HL (no-HL). We inserted ingrowth cores filled with enriched-nitrogen organic matter (15N-OM) in the upper layer and tested whether decomposition, mineralization and uptake of 15N were higher in plants performing HL than in plants without HL. Soils in the upper layer were significantly wetter in the HL treatment than in the no-HL treatment. Decomposition rates were similar in the W and HL treatments and lower in no-HL. On average, the concentration of NH4 +-N in ingrowth cores was highest in the W treatment, and NO3 −-N concentrations were highest in the no-HL treatment, with HL having intermediate values for both, suggesting differential mineralization of organic N among treatments. Aboveground biomass, leaf 15N contents and the 15N uptake in aboveground tissues were higher in W and HL than in no-HL, indicating higher nutrient uptake and improved N status of plants performing HL. However, there were no differences in total root nitrogen content or 15N uptake by roots, indicating that HL affected plant allocation of acquired N to photosynthetic tissues. Our evidence for the role of HL in organic matter decomposition and nutrient cycling suggests that HL could have positive effects on plant nutrient dynamics and nutrient turnover.

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Acknowledgments

We want to thank Todd Smith and the Duke Phytotron staff for help growing the plants and in designing the pots, Tom Rutherford from the Oil-Dri company for kindly providing us the soil. C.A. was supported by a Spanish MEC-Fulbright fellowship. J.H.K. was supported by a U.S. EPA STAR fellowship. T.M.B. was supported by the Australian Research Council. The U.S. National Science Foundation (DEB 0717191 and IOS 0920355) provided primary support for the experiment.

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  1. Cristina Armas

    Present address: Estación Experimental de Zonas Áridas, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Carretera de Sacramento s/n, 04120, Almería, Spain

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Duke University, Box 90338, Durham, NC, 27708, USA

    Cristina Armas, John H. Kim & Robert B. Jackson

  2. School of Plant Biology, The University of Western Australia (M084), 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA, 6009, Australia

    Timothy M. Bleby

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  1. Cristina Armas
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Cristina Armas.

Additional information

Communicated by Jim Ehleringer.

C. Armas and J. H. Kim contributed equally to the paper.

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Armas, C., Kim, J.H., Bleby, T.M. et al. The effect of hydraulic lift on organic matter decomposition, soil nitrogen cycling, and nitrogen acquisition by a grass species. Oecologia 168, 11–22 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-011-2065-2

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