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Long-term Changes in Forest Carbon and Nitrogen Cycling Caused by an Introduced Pest/Pathogen Complex

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Abstract

Invasion of exotic forest pests and pathogens is a serious environmental problem for many forests throughout the world, and has been especially damaging to forests of eastern North America. We studied the impacts of an exotic pest/pathogen complex, the beech bark disease (BBD), in the Catskill Mountains of New York State, USA. In this region, BBD has caused a decline in the basal area of American beech (Fagus grandifolia Ehrh.) over the last 60 years and this decline has been accompanied by an increase in the basal area of sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marsh.). We studied the impacts of the BBD on carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) cycling using a series of stands that represented a sequence of disease impact and beech replacement by sugar maple. Our study showed that these long-term changes in tree species composition can lead to important changes in C and N cycling in the ecosystem, including an increase in litter decomposition, a decrease in soil C:N ratio, and an increase in extractable nitrate in the soil and nitrate in soil solution. Rates of potential net N mineralization and nitrification did not change across the BBD sequence, but the fraction of mineralized N that was nitrified increased significantly. Many of the observed changes in ecosystem function are larger in magnitude than those attributed to climate change or air pollution, suggesting that the impacts of invasive pests and pathogens on tree species composition could be one of the most important factors driving changes in C and N cycling in these forests in the coming decades.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dr. Ross Fitzhugh for the lysimetry analyses, Dr. Richard April for the XRF Ca analyses, and Jessica Hancock, Brent Mellen and Millie Hamilton for help in the field and laboratory. This research was supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation (Grants DEB 99-81503 and 04-44895). This is a contribution to the program of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Box AB, Millbrook, New York, 12545, USA

    Gary M. Lovett & Kathleen C. Weathers

  2. Department of Forestry, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, 40546, USA

    Mary A. Arthur

  3. Department of Zoology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, 53706, USA

    Jacob M. Griffin

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  1. Gary M. Lovett
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  2. Mary A. Arthur
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  3. Kathleen C. Weathers
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  4. Jacob M. Griffin
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Correspondence to Gary M. Lovett.

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All authors contributed to designing the study, carrying out the field and laboratory work, analyzing the data, and writing the article.

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Lovett, G.M., Arthur, M.A., Weathers, K.C. et al. Long-term Changes in Forest Carbon and Nitrogen Cycling Caused by an Introduced Pest/Pathogen Complex. Ecosystems 13, 1188–1200 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-010-9381-y

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