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Disturbance and Topography Shape Nitrogen Availability and δ15N over Long-Term Forest Succession

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Abstract

Forest disturbance and long-term succession towards old-growth are thought to increase nitrogen (N) availability and N loss, which should increase soil δ15N values. We examined soil and foliar patterns in N and δ15N, and soil N mineralization, across 800 years of forest succession in a topographically complex montane landscape influenced by human logging and wildfire. In contrast to expectations, we found that disturbance caused declines in surface mineral soil δ15N values, both in logged forests measured 40–50 years after disturbance, and in unlogged forests disturbed by severe wildfire within the last 200 years. Both symbiotic N fixation and N transfers from disturbed vegetation and detritus could lower soil δ15N values after disturbance. A more important role for symbiotic N fixation is suggested by lower soil δ15N values in slow-successional sites with slow canopy closure, which favors early-successional N fixers. Soil δ15N values increased only marginally throughout 800 years of succession, reflecting soil N uptake by vegetation and strong overall N retention. Although post-disturbance N inputs lowered surface soil δ15N values, steady-state mass balance calculations suggest that wildfire combustion of vegetation and detritus can dominate long-term N loss and increase whole-ecosystem δ15N. On steeper topography, declining soil δ15N values highlight erosion and accelerated soil turnover as an additional abiotic control on N balances. We conclude for N-limited montane forests that soil δ15N and N availability are less influenced by nitrate leaching and denitrification loss than by interactions between disturbance, N fixation, and erosion.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Mark Harmon, Kari O’Connell, Tom Giesen, Mark Schulze, and Patti Haggerty for site information, Chris Catricala, Morgan Luce, Bill Rugh, and Aaron Thiel for field and laboratory assistance, and Helga Van Miegroet and two anonymous reviewers for comments on the manuscript. Any use of trade names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the US Government. This research was funded by National Science Foundation grant DEB 021-8088 to the Long-Term Ecological Research Program at the HJ Andrews Experimental Forest.

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  1. U.S. Geological Survey, Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center, Corvallis, Oregon, 97331, USA

    Steven S. Perakis

  2. Department of Geography, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, 80309, USA

    Alan J. Tepley

  3. National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory, Western Ecology Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Corvallis, Oregon, 97333, USA

    Jana E. Compton

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  1. Steven S. Perakis
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Correspondence to Steven S. Perakis.

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SSP and JEC conceived the study and performed research. SSP and AJT analyzed data. SSP wrote the paper with input from JEC and AJT.

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Perakis, S.S., Tepley, A.J. & Compton, J.E. Disturbance and Topography Shape Nitrogen Availability and δ15N over Long-Term Forest Succession. Ecosystems 18, 573–588 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-015-9847-z

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