Abstract
Microbial biomass C and N, and anaerobically mineralizable-N, were measured in the litter and mineral soil (0–10 cm and 10–20 cm depth) of Pinus radiata plantations in two trials on a nitrogen-deficient coastal sand. The trials comprised (a) stands of different age (1 to 33 years), with five of the seven stands studied being second rotation, and (b) a harvest-management trial, with stands established after different harvesting treatments of the first-rotation trees and understorey development controlled by manual weeding and chemical sprays. The harvest-management stands were sampled in the fifth year after the second-rotation establishment.
In the stands of different age, the levels of microbial biomass C and N, and also mineralizable-N, in the litter and mineral soil showed no relationship with tree age and were similar to those in the oldest (33 years) stands of P. radiata. In the harvesting trial, five years after establishment of the second rotation, levels of microbial N and mineralizable-N in the litter and mineral soil were generally lowest where whole trees and the original forest floor had been removed; they were higher in associated plots in which the original forest floor had been removed but fertilizer N was regularly applied. No marked differences were then found between the other harvest treatments, viz. whole-tree harvest, stem-only harvest with slash remaining on site, and stem-only harvest plus extra added slash materials. In each trial, levels of microbial C and N and mineralizable-N were closely related to total C, and especially total N, in 0–10 cm depth mineral soil, but not generally in litter. Respiratory measurements strongly suggest that the microbial populations in mineral soil had a high metabolic activity.
On an area basis in the harvest-management trial, total tree N and microbial N in the litter and mineral soil were lowest in stands where the original forest floor had been removed. In this particular treatment, microbial N in the litter plus mineral soil (0–20 cm depth) after five years of second-rotation growth comprised 7.3% of the total ecosystem N; values in the other treatments ranged between 5.6 and 6.0%.
Our results emphasise the importance of slash and litter, and probably volunteer shrubs and herbaceous under-storey species, in conserving pools of potentially available N during the early stages of tree development.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Anderson J P E and Domsch K H 1980 Quantities of plant nutrients in the microbial biomass of selected soils. Soil Sci. 130, 211–216.
Arnebrandt K, Bååth E and Söderström B 1990 Changes in microfungal community structure after fertilization of Scots pine forest soil with ammonium nitrate or urea. Soil Biol. Biochem. 22, 309–312.
Bååth E 1980 Soil fungal biomass after clear-cutting of a pine forest in central Sweden. Soil Biol. Biochem. 12, 495–500.
Baker T G, Oliver G R and Hodgkiss P D 1986 Distribution and cycling of nutrients in Pinus radiata as affected by past lupin growth and fertiliser. For. Ecol. Manage. 17, 169–187.
Beets P N and Madgwick H A I 1988 Above-ground dry matter and nutrient content of Pinus radiata as affected by lupin, fertiliser, thinning, and stand age. N.Z. J. For. Sci. 18, 43–64.
Binkley D and Hart S C 1989 The components of nitrogen availability assessments in forest soils. In Advances in Soil Science, Vol. 10. Ed. B A Stewart. 57–112. Springer-Verlag, New York.
Blakemore L C, Searle P L and Daly B K 1987 Methods for the chemical analysis of soils. N.Z. Soil Bur. Sci. Rep. 80.
Brookes P C, Landman A, Pruden G and Jenkinson D S 1985 Chloroform fumigation and the release of soil nitrogen: A rapid direct extraction method to measure microbial nitrogen in soil. Soil Biol. Biochem. 17, 837–842.
Burns L and Killham K 1993 Microcosm characterization of release and fate of fertilizer-derived N held within 15N-labelled Sitka spruce litter. Soil Use Manage. 9, 123.
Carlyle J C 1993 Organic carbon in forested sandy soils: properties, processes, and the impact of forest management. N.Z. J. For. Sci. 23, 390–402.
Cox J E 1977 Northland Peninsula. In Soil Groups of New Zealand. Part 2. Yellow-brown Sands. Ed. V E Neall. pp 18–47. N.Z. Soc. Soil Sci., Wellington.
Dyck W J, Mees C A and Hodgkiss P D 1987 Nitrogen availability and comparison to uptake in two New Zealand Pinus radiata forests. N.Z. J. For. Sci. 17, 338–352.
Dyck W J, Hodgkiss P D, Oliver G R and Mees C A 1991 Harvesting sand-dune forests: Impacts on second-rotation productivity. In Long-term Field Trials to Assess Environmental Impacts of Harvesting Eds. W J Dyck and C A Mees. 163–176. Proc. IAE/BE T6/A6 Workshop, Florida, February 1990; IAE/BE T6/A6 Rep. No. 5, Bull. 161. Forest Research Institute, New Zealand.
Entry J A, Stark N M and Loewenstein H 1986 Effect of timber harvesting on microbial biomass fluxes in a northern Rocky Mountain forest soil. Can. J. For. Res. 16, 1076–1081.
Fogel R 1988 Interactions among soil biota in coniferous ecosystems. Agric. Ecosyst. Environ. 24, 69–85.
Gadgil R L 1979 The nutritional role of Lupinus arboreus in coastal sand dune forestry. IV. Nitrogen distribution in the ecosystem for the first 5 years after tree planting. N.Z. J. For. Sci. 9, 324–336.
Gadgil R L, Sandberg A M and Graham J D 1984 Lupinus arboreus and inorganic fertiliser as sources of nitrogen for Pinus radiata on a coastal sand. N.Z. J. For. Sci. 14, 257–276.
Groffman P M, Zak D R, Christensen S, Mosier A and Tiedje J M 1993 Early spring nitrogen dynamics in a temperate forest landscape. Ecology 14, 1579–1585.
Harding D E and Ross D J 1964 Some factors in low-temperature storage influencing the mineralisable-nitrogen of soils. J. Sci. Food Agric. 15, 829–834.
Hart P B S, Sparling G P and Kings J A 1986 Relationship between mineralisable nitrogen and microbial biomass in a range of plant litters, peats, and soils of moderate to low pH. N.Z. J. Agric. Res. 29, 681–686.
Hendrickson O Q and Robinson J B 1984 Effects of roots and litter on mineralization processes in forest soil. Plant and Soil 80, 391–405.
Hunt G A and Fogel R 1983 Fungal hyphal dynamics in a Western Oregon Douglas-fir stand. Soil Biol. Biochem. 15, 641–649.
Insam H and Haselwandter K 1989 Metabolic quotient of the soil microflora in relation to plant succession. Oecologia 79,174–178.
Jackson D S, Gifford H H and Graham J D 1983 Lupin, fertiliser, and thinning effects on early productivity of Pinus radiata growing on deep Pinaki sands. N.Z. J. For. Sci. 13, 159–182.
Jenkinson D S 1988 Determination of microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen in soil. In Advances in Nitrogen Cycling in Agricultural Ecosystems. Ed. J R Wilson. pp 368–386. C.A.B. International, Wallingford.
Jenkinson D S and Ladd J N 1981 Microbial biomass in soil: measurement and turnover. In Soil Biochemistry, Vol 5. Eds. E APaul and J NLadd. pp 415–471. Dekker, New York.
Jenkinson D S and Powlson D S 1976 The effects of biocidal treatments on metabolism in soil. I. Fumigation with chloroform. Soil Biol. Biochem. 8, 167–177.
Keeney D R and Bremner J M 1966 Comparison and evaluation of laboratory methods of obtaining an index of soil nitrogen availability. Agron. J. 58, 498–503.
McGill W B and Cole C V 1981 Comparative aspects of cycling of organic C, N, S and P through soil organic matter. Geoderma 26, 267–286.
McMurtrie R E, Rook D A and Kelliher F M 1990 Modelling the yield of Pinus radiata on a site limited by water and nitrogen. For. Ecol. Manage. 30, 381–413.
Miller H G, Cooper J M, Miller J D and Pauline O J L 1979 Nutrient cycles in pine and their adaptation to poor soils. Can. J. For. Res. 9, 19–26.
Myrold D D 1987 Relationship between microbial biomass nitrogen and a nitrogen availability index. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 51, 1047–1049.
Nohrstedt H Ö, Arnebrandt K, Bååth E and Söderström B 1989 Changes in carbon content, respiration rate, ATP content, and microbial biomass in nitrogen-fertilized pine forest soils in Sweden. Can. J. For. Res. 19, 323–328.
Ohtonen R, Munson A and Brand D 1992 Soil microbial community response to silvicultural intervention in coniferous plantation ecosystems. Ecol. Appl. 2, 363–375.
Ross D J and Sparling G P 1993 Comparison of methods to estimate microbial C and N in litter and soil under Pinus radiata on a coastal sand. Soil Biol. Biochem. 25, 1591–1599.
Ross D J and Tate K R 1993 Microbial C and N, and respiratory activity, in litter and soil of a southern beech (Nothofagus) forest: Distribution and properties. Soil Biol. Biochem. 25, 477–483.
Smith C T, Dyck W J, Beets P N, Hodgkiss P D and Lowe A T 1994 Nutrition and productivity of Pinus radiata following harvest disturbance and fertilization of coastal sand dunes. For. Ecol. Manage. 66, 5–38.
Soil Survey Staff 1992 Keys to Soil Taxonomy. SMSS Tech. Monograph No.19. Pocahontas, Blacksberg, Virginia.
Sparling G P, Feltham C W, Reynolds J, West A W and Singleton P 1990 Estimation of soil microbial C by a fumigation-extraction method: Use on soils of high organic matter content, and a reassessment of the kEC-factor. Soil Biol. Biochem. 22, 301–307.
Sparling G P, Hart P B S, August J and Leslie D M 1994 A comparison of soil and microbial carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus contents, and macro-aggregate stability of a soil under native forest and after clearance for pastures and plantation forest. Biol. Fertil. Soils 17, 91–100.
Sparling G P, Hart P B S and Hawke M F 1989 Influence of Pinus radiata stocking density on organic matter pools and mineralisable nitrogen in an agroforestry system. In Nitrogen in New Zealand Agriculture and Horticulture. Eds. R EWhite and L DCurrie. pp 186–195. Fertiliser and Lime Research Centre Occasional Report No 3. Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand.
Steel R G D and Torrie J H 1980 Principles and Procedures of Statistics. McGraw-Hill, New York. 633 p.
Sundman V, Huhta V and Niemalä S 1978 Biological changes in northern spruce forest soil after clear-cutting. Soil Biol. Biochem. 10, 393–397.
Tate K R, Ross D J and Feltham C W 1988 A direct extraction method to estimate soil microbial C: Effects of experimental variables and some different calibration procedures. Soil Biol. Biochem. 20, 329–335.
Verbenne E L J and Hassink J 1993 Relationships between soil structure, soil biology and N mineralization. Soil Use Manage. 9, 119.
Vitousek P M and Andariese S W 1986 Microbial transformations of labelled nitrogen in a clear-cut pine plantation. Oecologia 68, 601–605.
West A W and Sparling G P 1986 Modifications to the substrate-induced respiration method to permit measurement of microbial biomass in soils of differing water contents. J. Microbiol. Meth. 5, 177–189.
Will G M, Hodgkiss P D and Madgwick H A I 1983 Nutrient losses from litterbags containing Pinus radiata litter: Influences of thinning, clearfelling, and urea fertiliser. N.Z. J. For. Sci. 13, 291–304.
Wood C W, Mitchell R J, Zutter B R and Lin C L 1992 Loblolly pine plant community effects on soil carbon and nitrogen. Soil Sci. 154, 410–419.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ross, D.J., Sparling, G.P., Burke, C.M. et al. Microbial biomass C and N, and mineralizable-N, in litter and mineral soil under Pinus radiata on a coastal sand: Influence of stand age and harvest management. Plant Soil 175, 167–177 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00011352
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00011352