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Throughfall Nitrogen Deposition Has Different Impacts on Soil Solution Nitrate Concentration in European Coniferous and Deciduous Forests

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Abstract

Increases in the deposition of atmospheric nitrogen (N) influence N cycling in forest ecosystems and can result in negative consequences due to the leaching of nitrate into groundwaters. From December 1995 to February 1998, the Pan-European Programme for the Intensive and Continuous Monitoring of Forest Ecosystems measured forest conditions at a plot scale for conifer and broadleaf forests, including the performance of time series of soil solution chemistry. The influence of various ecosystem conditions on soil solution nitrate concentrations at these forest plots (n = 104) was then analyzed with a statistical model. Soil solution nitrate concentrations varied by season, and summer concentrations were approximately 25% higher than winter ones. Soil solution nitrate concentrations increased dramatically with throughfall (and bulk precipitation) N input for both broadleaf and conifer forests. However, at elevated levels of throughfall N input (more than 10 kg N ha−1 y−1), nitrate concentrations were higher in broadleaf than coniferous stands. This tree-specific difference was not observed in response to increased bulk precipitation N input. In coniferous stands, throughfall N input, foliage N concentration, organic layer carbon–nitrogen (C:N) ratio, and nitrate concentrations covaried. Soil solution nitrate concentrations in conifer plots were best explained by a model with throughfall N and organic layer C:N as main factors, where C:N ratio could be replaced by foliage N. The organic layer C:N ratio classes of more than 30, 25–30, and less than 25, as well as the foliage N (mg N g−1) classes of less than 13, 13–17, and more than 17, indicated low, intermediate, and high risks of nitrate leaching, respectively. In broadleaf forests, correlations between N characteristics were less pronounced, and soil solution nitrate concentrations were best explained by throughfall N and soil pH (0–10-cm depth). These results indicate that the responses of soil solution nitrate concentration to changes in N input are more pronounced in broadleaf than in coniferous forests, because in European forests broadleaf species grow on the more fertile soils.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the European Commission contract SG(99) D/10844) (H.L.K.), and article 254 contract no. 2000.60.NL, 3B. (The DYNAMIC project) (P.G.U.). Special thanks are due to all the people involved in the Intensive Monitoring program for their thorough work on all the plots.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Forest Ecology, Forest and Landscape Research Institute, Hørsholm Kongevej 11, DK-2970 Hørsholm, Denmark

    Hanne L. Kristensen, Per Gundersen & Ingeborg Callesen

  2. Department of Horticulture, Danish Institute for Agricultural Sciences, Kirstinebjergvej 10, DK-5792, Denmark

    Hanne L. Kristensen

  3. ALTERRA Green World Research, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands

    Gert Jan Reinds

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  1. Hanne L. Kristensen
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  2. Per Gundersen
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  3. Ingeborg Callesen
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  4. Gert Jan Reinds
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Correspondence to Per Gundersen.

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Kristensen, H., Gundersen, P., Callesen, I. et al. Throughfall Nitrogen Deposition Has Different Impacts on Soil Solution Nitrate Concentration in European Coniferous and Deciduous Forests. Ecosystems 7, 180–192 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-003-0216-y

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