Abstract
Suggestions that nutrient cycles become more strongly regulated and that nitrification is progressively inhibited in the course of ecological succession have stimulated numerous field measurements. Results of these are inconsistent; in some cases nitrogen turnover and nitrification decrease during succession, while in others both increase substantially.
Consideration of the nature of disturbance which initiates each succession explains much of the difference in nitrogen dynamics. Primary succession (the development of ecosystems on wholly new substrates) invariably involves a low nitrogen availability and nitrification early in succession. In contrast, destructive disturbance followed by immediate regrowth (the ‘pure case’ of secondary succession) invariably increases nitrogen availability (and generally nitrate production) in recently disturbed sites; it is followed by a decline during later stages of succession. Succession following a period of chronic disturbance (i.e. prolonged agriculture) does not follow such clear patterns; the duration and intensity of disturbance may control whether nitrogen availability and potential nitrification increase or decrease early in such seres.
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Vitousek, P.M., Matson, P.A. & Van Cleve, K. Nitrogen availability and nitrification during succession: Primary, secondary, and old-field seres. Plant Soil 115, 229–239 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02202591
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02202591