Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Net nitrogen mineralization and leaching in response to warming and nitrogen deposition in a temperate old field: the importance of winter temperature

  • Global Change Ecology - Original Paper
  • Published:
Oecologia Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

While climate warming can increase plant N availability over the growing season by increasing rates of N mineralization, increased N mineralization over winter at a time when plant roots are largely inactive, coupled with an increased frequency of soil freeze–thaw cycles, may increase soil N leaching losses. We examined changes in soil net N mineralization and N leaching in response to warming and N addition (6 g m−2 year−1) in a factorial experiment conducted in a temperate old field. We used two warming treatments, year-round and winter-only warming, to isolate the effects of winter warming on soil N dynamics from the year-round warming effects. We estimated net N mineralization using in situ soil cores with resin bags placed at the bottom to catch throughput, and we measured N leaching using lysimeters located below the plant rooting zone at a depth of 50 cm. There were minor effects of warming on changes in soil extractable N and resin N in the soil cores over winter. Nevertheless, the overall effects of both warming and N addition on net N mineralization (the sum of changes in soil extractable N and resin N) were not significant over this period. Likewise, there were no significant treatment effects on the concentration of N in leachate collected below the plant rooting zone. However, in response to winter warming, net N mineralization over summer was approximately double that of both the ambient and year-round warming treatments. This result demonstrates a potentially large and unexpected effect of winter warming on soil N availability in this old field system.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aber JD, Melillo JM (1980) Litter decomposition, measuring relative contribution of organic matter and nitrogen to forest soils. Can J Bot 58:416–421

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Aber JD, Nadelhoffer KJ, Steudler P, Melillo JM (1989) Nitrogen saturation in northern forest ecosystems—hypotheses and implications. Bioscience 39:378–386

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aerts R, Cornelissen JHC, Dorrepaal E (2006) Plant performance in a warmer world, general responses of plants from cold, northern biomes and the importance of winter and spring events. Plant Ecol 182:65–77

    Google Scholar 

  • Cabrera ML, Beare MH (1993) Alkaline persulfate oxidation for determining total nitrogen in microbial biomass extracts. Soil Sci Soc Am J 57:1007–1012

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Campbell JL, Mitchell MJ, Groffman PM, Christenson LM, Hardy JP (2005) Winter in northeastern North America, a critical period for ecological processes. Frontiers Ecol Environ 3:314–322

    Google Scholar 

  • Castle ML, Crush JR, Rowarth JS (2006) The effect of root and shoot temperature of 8 degrees C or 24 degrees C on the uptake and distribution of nitrogen in white clover (Trifolium repens L.). Aust J Agric Res 57:577–581

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Chang C, Hao X (2001) Source of N2O emission from a soil during freezing and thawing. Phyton Ann R Bot 41:49–60

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Christensen S, Tiedje JM (1990) Brief and vigorous N2O production by soil at spring fall. J Soil Sci 41:1–4

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Clarkson DT, Jones LHP, Purves JV (1992) Absorption of nitrate and ammonium ions by Lolium perenne from flowing solution cultures at low root temperatures. Plant Cell Environ 15:99–106

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Clein JS, Schimel JP (1995) Microbial activity of tundra and taiga soils at subzero temperatures. Soil Biol Biochem 27:1231–1234

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • De Valpine P, Harte J (2001) Plant responses to experimental warming in a montane meadow. Ecology 82:637–648

    Google Scholar 

  • DiStefano JF, Gholz HL (1986) A proposed use of ion exchange resins to measure nitrogen mineralization and nitrification in intact soil cores. Commun Soil Sci Plant Anal 17:989–998

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Edwards KA, McCulloch J, Kershaw PG, Jefferies RL (2006) Soil microbial and nutrient dynamics in a wet Arctic sedge meadow in late winter and early spring. Soil Biol Biochem 38:2843–2851

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Emmer IM, Tietema A (1990) Temperature-dependent nitrogen transformation in acid oak-beach forest litter in the Netherlands. Plant Soil 122:193–196

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Galloway JN, Dentener FJ, Capone DG, Boyer EW, Howarth EW, Seitzinger SP, Asner GP, Cleveland CC, Green PA, Holland EA, Karl DM, Michaels AF, Porter JH, Townsend AR, Vorosmarty CJ (2004) Nitrogen cycles, past, present, and future. Biogeochemistry 70:152–226

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Giblin AE, Nadelhoffer KJ, Shaver GR, Laundre JA, McKerrow AJ (1991) Biogeochemical diversity along a riverside toposequence in arctic Alaska. Ecol Monogr 61:415–435

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goncalves JLM, Caryle JC (1994) Modeling the influence of moisture and temperature on net nitrogen mineralization in a forested sandy soil. Soil Biol Biochem 26:1557–1564

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Grogan P, Jonasson S (2003) Controls on annual nitrogen cycling in the understory of a subarctic birch forest. Ecology 84:202–218

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hagerty TP, Kingston MS (1992) The soils of Middlesex County. Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food

  • Hanselman TA, Graetz DA, Obreza TA (2004) A comparison of in situ methods for measuring net nitrogen mineralization rates of organic soil amendments. J Environ Qual 33:1098–1105

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hart SC, Stark JM, Davidson EA, Firestone MK (1994) Nitrogen mineralization, immobilization, and nitrification. In: Weaver RW, Angle S, Bottomley P, Bezdicek D, Smith S, Tabatabai A, Wollum A (eds) Methods of soil analysis. Part 2. Microbiological and biochemical properties. Soil Science Society of America, Madison, pp 985–1018

    Google Scholar 

  • Harte J, Torn MS, Chang FR, Feifarek B, Kinzig AP, Shaw R, Shen K (1995) Global warming and soil microclimate—results from a meadow warming experiment. Ecol Appl 5:132–150

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Henry HAL (2008) Climate change and soil freezing dynamics, historical trends and projected changes. Clim Change 87:421–434

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Henry HAL, Jefferies RL (2003) Interactions in the uptake of amino acids, ammonium and nitrate ions in the Arctic salt-marsh Puccinellia phryganodes. Plant Cell Environ 26:419–428

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hobbie SE, Chapin FS (1996) Winter regulation of tundra litter carbon and nitrogen dynamics. Biogeochemistry 35:327–338

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2007) Contribution of Working Group I to the fourth assessment report of the IPCC. The physical science basis—chap. 11. Regional climate projections

  • Isard SA, Schaetzl RJ (1998) Effects of winter weather conditions on soil freezing in southern Michigan. Phys Geogr 19:71–94

    Google Scholar 

  • Kattenberg A, Giorgi F, Grassl H, Meehl GA, Mitchell JFB, Stoufer RJ, Tokioka T, Weaver AJ, Wigley TML (1996) Climate model—projections of future climate. In: Houghton JT, Meirho Filho LG, Callander BA, Harris N, Kattenberg A, Maskell K (eds) The science of climate change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 285–357

    Google Scholar 

  • Kielland K, Olson K, Ruess RW, Boone RD (2006) Contribution of winter processes to soil nitrogen flux in taiga forest ecosystems. Biogeochemistry 81:349–360

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Larsen KS, Jonasson S, Michelsen A (2002) Repeated freeze–thaw cycles and their effects on biological processes in two arctic ecosystem types. Appl Soil Ecol 21:187–195

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lipson DA, Schmidt SK, Monson RK (2000) Carbon availability and temperature control the post-snowmelt decline in alpine soil microbial biomass. Soil Biol Biochem 32:441–448

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Matzner E, Borken W (2008) Do freeze–thaw events enhance C and N losses from soils of different ecosystems? A review. Eur J Soil Sci 59:274–284

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mikan CJ, Schimel JP, Doyle AP (2002) Temperature controls of microbial respiration in arctic tundra soils above and below freezing. Soil Biol Biochem 34:1785–1795

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Miller AE, Schimel JP, Sickman JO, Meixner T, Doyle AP, Melack JM (2007) Mineralization responses at near-zero temperatures in three alpine soils. Biogeochemistry 84:233–245

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rejsek K, Formanek P, Pavelka M (2008) Estimation of protease activity in soils at low temperatures by casein amendment and with substitution of buffer by demineralized water. Amino Acids 35:411–417

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rustad LE, Campbell JL, Marion GM, Norby RJ, Mitchell MJ, Hartley AE, Cornelissen JHC, Gurevitch J (2001) A meta-analysis of the response of soil respiration, net nitrogen mineralization, and aboveground plant growth to experimental ecosystem warming. Oecologia 126:543–562

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scherer-Lorenzen M, Palmborg C, Prinz A, Schulz ED (2003) The role of plant diversity and composition for nitrate leaching in grasslands. Ecology 84:1539–1552

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schimel JP, Clein JS (1996) Microbial response to freeze–thaw cycles in tundra and taiga soils. Soil Biol Biochem 28:1061–1066

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schimel JP, Gulledge J (1998) Microbial community structure and global trace gases. Glob Change Biol 4:745–758

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schimel JP, Bilbrough C, Welker JA (2004) Increased snow depth affects microbial activity and nitrogen mineralization in two Arctic tundra communities. Soil Biol Biochem 36:217–227

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Schmidt SK, Lipson DA (2004) Microbial growth under the snow, implications for nutrient and allelochemical availability in temperate soils. Plant Soil 259:1–7

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sickles JE, Shadwick DS (2007) Seasonal and regional air quality and atmospheric deposition in the eastern United States. J Geophys Res Atmos 112:D17302

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sierra J (1997) Temperature and soil moisture dependence of N mineralization in intact soil cores. Soil Biol Biochem 29:1557–1563

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Six J, Bossuyt H, Degryse S, Denef K (2004) A history of research on the link between (micro)aggregates, soil biota, and soil organic matter dynamics. Soil Tillage Res 79:7–31

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sturm M, Schimel J, Michaelson G, Welker JM, Oberbauer SF, Liston GE, Fahnestock J, Romanovsky VE (2005) Winter biological processes could help convert arctic tundra to shrubland. Bioscience 55:17–26

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Szillery JE, Fernandez IJ, Norton SA, Rustad LE, White AS (2006) Using ion exchange resins to study soil response to experimental watershed acidification. Environ Monit Assess 116:383–398

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tierney GL, Fahey TJ, Groffman PM, Hardy JP, Fitzhugh RD, Driscoll CT (2001) Soil freezing alters fine root dynamics in a northern hardwood forest. Biogeochemistry 56:175–190

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tilman D, Downing JA (1994) Biodiversity and stability in grasslands. Nature 367:363–365

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Turner MM, Henry HAL (2009) Interactive effects of warming and increased nitrogen deposition on 15N tracer retention in a temperate old field: seasonal trends. Global Change Biol (in press)

  • Vitousek PM, Aber J, Howarth RW, Likens GE, Matson PA, Schindler DW, Schlesinger WH, Tilman GD (1997) Human alteration of the global nitrogen cycle, causes and consequences. Ecol Appl 7:737–750

    Google Scholar 

  • Yanai Y, Toyota K, Okazaki M (2004) Effects of successive soil freeze–thaw cycles on soil microbial biomass and organic matter decomposition potential of soils. Soil Sci Plant Nutr 50:821–829

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The infrastructure for this experiment was funded by the Canadian Foundation for Innovation and the Ontario Research Fund. This work was also supported by a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Discovery Grant to H. A. L. H. We thank Gena Braun for assistance in installing the infrastructure. P.A. Niklaus and two anonymous reviewers provided helpful comments on an earlier version of the manuscript. All experiments comply with the current laws of Canada, where they were performed.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, N6A 5B7, Canada

    Michelle M. Turner & Hugh A. L. Henry

Authors
  1. Michelle M. Turner
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Hugh A. L. Henry
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hugh A. L. Henry.

Additional information

Communicated by Paascal Niklaus.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Turner, M.M., Henry, H.A.L. Net nitrogen mineralization and leaching in response to warming and nitrogen deposition in a temperate old field: the importance of winter temperature. Oecologia 162, 227–236 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-009-1435-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-009-1435-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation