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Nitrogen addition in a freshwater marsh alters the quality of senesced leaves, promoting decay rates and changing nutrient dynamics during the standing-dead phase

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Abstract

Background and aims

Nitrogen (N) is often the nutrient limiting the decomposability of shoots from macrophytes in wetlands. We aimed to determine the effects of increasing soil N availability on the decomposition of shoots during the standing-dead phase.

Methods

We measured the quality of senesced leaves from graminoids and their subsequent aerial decay under different N addition treatments (Control, 0 kg N ha−1 yr.−1; N60, 60 kg N ha−1 yr.−1; N120, 120 kg N ha−1 yr.−1; N240, 240 kg N ha−1 yr.−1) in a temperate marsh.

Results

Nitrogen addition increased N concentrations in senesced leaves and often increased phosphorus (P) concentrations. The exponential decay constants (k) of leaves from the N120 and N240 treatments were higher than the control treatment during aerial decay. Nitrogen amounts (in percentage terms) remaining in decaying leaves always significantly decreased after N addition, but the effects on P amounts varied with N addition rates. The nutrient amounts remaining in leaves during the standing-dead phase had negative relationships with the initial nutrient concentrations.

Conclusions

Soil N availability exerts remarkable effects on the decay process of standing litters by altering the initial quality, and thus the biogeochemical cycling in temperate wetlands.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 41671091, 41571089, 31570479, and 31100357) and National Key Research and Development Project: Research on the Response of Wetland Ecosystems in Mid-high Latitudes to Climate Change (No. 2016YFA0602303). We thank four anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments on the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Wetland Ecology and Environment, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 4888 Shengbei Rd, Changchun, 130102, China

    Xinhou Zhang, Rong Mao, Changchun Song & Yanyu Song

  2. The Three Gorges Institute of Ecological Environment, Chongqing Institute of Green and Intelligent Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 266 Zhengda Rd, Chongqing, 400714, China

    Rong Mao

  3. School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Perth, WA, 6009, Australia

    Patrick M. Finnegan

Authors
  1. Xinhou Zhang
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  2. Rong Mao
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  3. Changchun Song
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  4. Yanyu Song
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  5. Patrick M. Finnegan
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Changchun Song or Yanyu Song.

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Responsible Editor: Etienne Laliberté.

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Zhang, X., Mao, R., Song, C. et al. Nitrogen addition in a freshwater marsh alters the quality of senesced leaves, promoting decay rates and changing nutrient dynamics during the standing-dead phase. Plant Soil 417, 511–521 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-017-3276-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-017-3276-z

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