Biology and Fertility of Soils

, Volume 49, Issue 3, pp 323–331 | Cite as

Nitrogen mineralization, immobilization turnover, heterotrophic nitrification, and microbial groups in acid forest soils of subtropical China

  • Tongbin Zhu
  • Tianzhu Meng
  • Jinbo Zhang
  • Yunfeng Yin
  • Zucong Cai
  • Wenyan Yang
  • Wenhui Zhong
Original Paper
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Abstract

An in situ 15N tracing study was conducted to investigate the characteristics of soil mineral nitrogen (N) production and conservation in acid forest soils of subtropical China. The six experimental soils were strongly acidic (pH ranged from 4.1 to 4.7), except for one soil, from an orange orchard which had a higher pH (5.7) due to lime application. Total gross N mineralization rates ranged from 2.30 to 9.20 μg N g−1 soil day−1, and immobilization of NH 4 + increased logarithmically with the increase in total gross N mineralization. Oxidation rates of ammonium (NH 4 + ) in the acidic forest soils (pH from 4.1 to 4.7) were low, ranging from 0.12 to 0.65 μg N g−1 day−1. The oxidation of organic N, that is the heterotrophic nitrification, was an important nitrate (NO 3 − ) production process and approximately 17.2 % to 74.9 % of total NO 3 − production was immobilized by soil microbes in these acidic forest soils. The multiple regression analysis showed that the total gross N mineralization rate decreased significantly with the increase in the soil C/N ratio (R 2 = 0.71, p < 0.05) and heterotrophic nitrification rate increased significantly with the increase in soil C/N ratio (R 2 = 0.92, p < 0.01). Significant positive correlations were also observed between the NO 3 − immobilization rate (p < 0.05), heterotrophic nitrification rate (p < 0.01), and fungal biomass. The soil C/N ratio, which depends on dominant vegetation and composition of soil microbial communities, can be an effective predictor of soil mineral N production and conservation in the acid forest soils of subtropical China. Heterotrophic nitrification and immobilization of NO 3 − may be important N transformation pathways affecting ecosystem productivity.

Keywords

15N tracing model Gross N transformation rate Microbial group Heterotrophic nitrification 
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Notes

Acknowledgments

This work is founded by Projects of National Natural Science Foundation of China (40830531, 40921061, and 41101209), Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (BK2010611, BK20082282), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2012M511779), and A Project Funded by the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions. We sincerely thank Dr. Christoph Müller for running his model to obtain N gross transformation rates.

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Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag 2012

Authors and Affiliations

  • Tongbin Zhu
    • 1
    • 2
  • Tianzhu Meng
    • 1
  • Jinbo Zhang
    • 1
  • Yunfeng Yin
    • 3
  • Zucong Cai
    • 1
  • Wenyan Yang
    • 1
  • Wenhui Zhong
    • 1
  1. 1.School of Geography SciencesNanjing Normal UniversityNanjingChina
  2. 2.State Key Laboratory of Soil and Sustainable Agriculture, Institute of Soil ScienceChinese Academy of SciencesNanjingChina
  3. 3.Key Laboratory of Humid Subtropical Eco-geographical Process of the Ministry of Education, College of Geographical ScienceFujian Normal UniversityFuzhouChina

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