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Highly sensitive net nitrogen mineralization to soil temperature and moisture during a boreal secondary forest succession

  • Soils, Sec 1 • Soil Organic Matter Dynamics and Nutrient Cycling • Research Article
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Abstract

Purpose

Secondary forest succession can alter soil functions and regulate nitrogen (N) budgets in forest ecosystems. However, little information is known about how soil N mineralization develops during succession and how the interaction between soil temperature and moisture influences N mineralization, particularly for boreal forests, which are one of the areas particularly sensitive to climate change.

Methods

Soil from the Betula platyphylla forest (early stage), Betula platyphylla-Larix gmelinii mixed forest (middle stage), and Larix gmelinii forest (late stage) was collected and separated into 0 to 10 and 10 to 20 cm layers to measure N mineralization during a 30-day incubation under different temperature and moisture conditions.

Results

Soil temperature, moisture, and their interaction significantly affected the net N mineralization rate (Rmin) and showed increasing trends with increasing soil temperature and moisture. The highest Rmin and Q10 values were observed in the late stage, and the lowest values were in the middle stage, which was associated with the soil properties. The influence of forest succession and soil moisture on Rmin was stronger in the 0 to 10 cm layer than in the 10 to 20 cm layer, whereas the Rmin in the 10 to 20 cm layer was more sensitive to soil temperature than in the 0 to 10 cm layer.

Conclusions

Our study highlights the significant variations in the sensitivity of Rmin to soil temperature and moisture during forest succession. Increase in rates of N mineralization at higher temperature and moisture indicates potential acceleration in soil N turnover due to warming climate. The variational sensibility of N mineralization with soil depth suggested that soil N mineralization is also affected by edaphic factors.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China to Xiuling Man (No. 31770488), and the China Scholarship Council to Ruihan Xiao (No. 202006600030). We are particularly grateful to Xiaoming Wang for his help and assistance with the field work. We would also like to thank the Mohe Forest Ecological Research Station for supporting our field work.

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Author notes

  1. Ruihan Xiao and Beixing Duan are joint first authors and contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Forestry, Northeast Forestry University, 26 Hexing Road, Harbin, 150040, China

    Ruihan Xiao, Beixing Duan, Xiuling Man & Tijiu Cai

  2. Key Laboratory of Sustainable Forest Ecosystem Management ‐ Ministry of Education, Northeast Forestry University, 26 Hexing Road, 150040, Harbin, China

    Ruihan Xiao, Beixing Duan, Xiuling Man & Tijiu Cai

  3. Institute for Atmospheric and Earth System Research (INAR)/Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 68, 00014, Helsinki, Finland

    Ruihan Xiao & Timo Vesala

  4. Institute for Atmospheric and Earth System Research/Forest Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture and Forest, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 68, 00014, Helsinki, Finland

    Timo Vesala

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  1. Ruihan Xiao
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  2. Beixing Duan
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Contributions

Ruihan Xiao: conceptualization, methodology, formal analysis, investigation, writing (original draft and review and editing), and funding acquisition. Xiuling Man: formal analysis and investigation, writing (review and editing), supervision, and funding acquisition. Beixing Duan: conceptualization, methodology, software, and writing (original draft and review and editing). Tijiu Cai: conceptualization, writing (review and editing) and supervision. Timo Vesala: writing (review and editing) and supervision.

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Correspondence to Tijiu Cai.

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Xiao, R., Duan, B., Man, X. et al. Highly sensitive net nitrogen mineralization to soil temperature and moisture during a boreal secondary forest succession. J Soils Sediments 23, 1169–1181 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-022-03414-6

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