Abstract
Understanding N budgets of tundra ecosystems is crucial for projecting future changes in plant community composition, greenhouse gas balances and soil N stocks. Winter warming can lead to higher tundra winter nitrogen (N) mineralization rates, while summer warming may increase both growing season N mineralization and plant N demand. The undulating tundra landscape is inter-connected through water and solute movement on top of and within near-surface soil, but the importance of lateral N fluxes for tundra N budgets is not well known. We studied the size of lateral N fluxes and the fate of lateral N input in the snowmelt period with a shallow thaw layer, and in the late growing season with a deeper thaw layer. We used 15N to trace inorganic lateral N movement in a Low-arctic mesic tundra heath slope in West Greenland and to quantify the fate of N in the receiving area. We found that half of the early-season lateral N input was retained by the receiving ecosystem, whereas half was transported downslope. Plants appear as poor utilizers of early-season N, indicating that higher winter N mineralization may influence plant growth and carbon (C) sequestration less than expected. Still, evergreen plants were better at utilizing early-season N, highlighting how changes in N availability may impact plant community composition. In contrast, later growing season lateral N input was deeper and offered an advantage to deeper-rooted deciduous plants. The measurements suggest that N input driven by future warming at the study site will have no significant impact on the overall N2O emissions. Our work underlines how tundra ecosystem N allocation, C budgets and plant community composition vary in their response to lateral N inputs, which may help us understand future responses in a warmer Arctic.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
Data is available in Supporting information and further upon reasonable request from the authors.
Code availability
Not applicable.
Change history
22 November 2021
A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-021-00875-8
References
Altschuler I, Ronholm J, Layton A, Onstott TC, Greer CW, Whyte LG (2019) Denitrifiers, nitrogen-fixing bacteria and N2O soil gas flux in High arctic ice-wedge polygon cryosols. FEMS Microbiol Ecol 95:1–12
Ambus P, Clayton H, Arah JRM, Smith KA, Christensen S (1993) Similar N2O flux from soil measured with different chamber techniques. Atmos Environ Part A: General Top 27:121–123
Andresen LC, Michelsen A, Ambus P, Beier C (2010) Belowground heathland responses after 2 years of combined warming, elevated CO2 and summer drought. Biogeochemistry 101:27–46
Andresen CG, Lawrence DM, Wilson CJ, McGuire AD, Koven C, Schaefer K, Jafarov E, Peng S, Chen X, Gouttevin I, Burke E, Chadburn S, Ji D, Chen G, Hayes D, Zhang W (2020) Soil moisture and hydrology projections of the permafrost region—a model intercomparison. Cryosphere 14:445–459
Angulo-Jaramillo R, Bagarello V, Lassabatere Iovino M, L, (2016) Infiltration measurements for soil hydraulic characterization, 1st edn. Springer International Publishing, Cham, p 386
Bilbrough C, Welker J, Bowman W (2000) Early spring nitrogen uptake by snow-covered plants: a comparison of arctic and alpine plant function under the snowpack. Arct Antarct Alp Res 32:404–411
Blume-Werry G, Wilson SD, Kreyling J, Milbau A (2016) The hidden season: growing season is 50% longer below than above ground along an arctic elevation gradient. New Phytol 209:978–986
Bobbink R, Hicks K, Galloway J, Spranger T, Alkemade R, Ashmore M, Bustamante M, Cinderby S, Davidson E, Dentener F, Emmett B, Erisman J-W, Fenn M, Gilliam F, Nordin A, Pardo L, De Vries W (2010) Global assessment of nitrogen deposition effects on terrestrial plant diversity: a synthesis. Ecol Appl 20:30–59
Brookes PC, Landman A, Pruden G, Jenkinson DS (1985) Chloroform fumigation and the release of soil nitrogen: a rapid direct extraction method to measure microbial biomass nitrogen in soil. Soil Biol Biochem 17:837–842
Buckeridge KR (2009) Controls on seasonal nitrogen cycling in Canadian low arctic tundra ecosystems. PhD thesis, Department of Biology, Queens University, Ontario, Canada, pp 1–211
Buckeridge KM, Cen Y-P, Layzell DB, Grogan P (2010) Soil biogeochemistry during the early spring in low arctic mesic tundra and the impacts of deepened snow and enhanced nitrogen availability. Biogeochemistry 99:127–141
Buckeridge KM, Banerjee S, Siciliano S, Grogan P (2013) The seasonal pattern of soil microbial community structure in mesic low arctic tundra. Soil Biol Biochem 65:338–347
Butterbach-Bahl K, Willibald G, Papen H (2002) Soil core method for direct simultaneous determination of N2 and N2O emissions from forest soils. Plant Soil 240:105–116
Butterbach-Bahl K, Baggs EM, Dannenmann M, Kiese R, Zechmeister-Boltenstern S (2013) Nitrous oxide emissions from soils: how well do we understand the processes and their controls? Philos Trans: Biol Sci 368:1–13
D’Imperio L, Nielsen CS, Westergaard-Nielsen A, Michelsen A, Elberling B (2017) Methane oxidation in contrasting soil types: responses to experimental warming with implication for landscape-integrated CH4 budget. Glob Change Biol 23:966–976
Edwards R, Treitz P (2017) Vegetation greening trends at two sites in the Canadian Arctic: 1984–2015. Arct Antarct Alp Res 49:601–619
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
Grosse G, Jones B, Arp C (2013) Thermokarst lakes, drainage, and drained basins. Treatise Geomorphol 8:325–353
Hansen BU, Elberling B, Humlum O, Nielsen N (2006) Meteorological trends (1991–2004) at Arctic station, Central West Greenland (69°150N) in a 130 years perspective. Dan J Geogr 106:45–55
Hobara S, McCalley C, Koba K, Giblin AE, Weiss MS, Gettel GM, Shaver GR (2006) Nitrogen fixation in surface soils and vegetation in an arctic tundra watershed: a key source of atmospheric nitrogen. Arctic, Antarct, Alp Res 38:363–372
Humlum O et al (1976) Godhavn-områdets geomorfologi. Geomorphological map of the Blæsedalen area. Course in Arctic geomorphology 1976. University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen
IPCC (2019) IPCC special report on the ocean and cryosphere in a changing climate. In: Pörtner HO, Roberts DC, Masson-Delmotte V, Zhai P, Tignor M, Poloczanska E, Mintenbeck K, Nicolai M, Okem A, Petzold J, Rama B, Weyer N (eds). pp 1120 (in press)
Jia GJ, Epstein HE, Walker DA (2009) Vegetation greening in the Canadian Arctic related to decadal warming. J Environ Monit 11:2231–2238
Kolstad E, Michelsen A, Ambus P (2021) Nitrous oxide surface fluxes in a low arctic heath: effects of experimental warming along a natural snowmelt gradient. Soil Biol Biochem 160:108346
Larsen KS, Michelsen A, Jonasson S, Beier C, Grogan P (2012) Nitrogen uptake during fall, winter and spring differs among plant functional groups in a subarctic heath ecosystem. Ecosystems 15:927–939
Liu X, Koba K, Koyama LA, Hobbie SE, Weiss MS, Inagaki Y, Shaver GR, Giblin AE, Hobara S, Nadelhoffer KJ, Sommerkorn M, Rastetter EB, Kling GW, Laundre JA, Yano Y, Makabe A, Yano M, Liu C-Q (2018) Nitrate is an important Nitrogen source for arctic tundra plants. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 115:3398–3403
Lopez-Blanco E, Jackowicz-Korczynski M, Mastepanov M, Skov K, Westergaard-Nielsen A, Williams M, Christensen TR (2020) Multi-year data-model evaluation reveals the importance of nutrient availability over climate in arctic ecosystem C dynamics. Environ Res Lett 15:94007
Marion GM, Miller PC (1982) Nitrogen mineralization in a tussock tundra soil. Arct Alp Res 14:287–293
Meyerholt J, Sickel K, Zaehle S (2020) Ensemble projections elucidate effects of uncertainty in terrestrial nitrogen limitation on future carbon uptake. Glob Change Biol 26:3978–3996
Myers-Smith IH et al (2019) Eighteen years of ecological monitoring reveals multiple lines of evidence for tundra vegetation change. Ecol Monogr 89:01351
Natali SM, Schuur EAG, Rubin R (2012) Increased plant productivity in Alaskan tundra as a result of experimental warming of soil and permafrost. J Ecol 100:488–498
Oulehle F, Rowe EC, Myska O, Chuman T, Evans CD (2016) Plant functional type affects nitrogen use efficiency in high-Arctic tundra. Soil Biol Biochem 94:19–28
Pedersen EP, Elberling B, Michelsen A (2020) Foraging deeply: depth-specific plant nitrogen uptake in response to climate-induced N-release and permafrost thaw in the high Arctic. Glob Change Biol 26:6523–6536
Rasmussen LH, Zhang W, Hollesen J, Cable S, Christiansen HH, Jansson P-E, Elberling B (2018) Modelling present and future permafrost thermal regimes in Northeast Greenland. Cold Reg Sci Technol 146:199–213
Rasmussen LH, Michelsen A, Ladegaard-Pedersen P, Nielsen CS, Elberling B (2020) Arctic soil water chemistry in dry and wet tundra subject to snow addition, summer warming and herbivory simulation. Soil Biol Biochem 141:106–121
Rastetter EB, Kwiatkowski BL, Le Dizès S, Hobbie JE (2004) The role of down-slope water and nutrient fluxes in the response of arctic hill slopes to climate change. Biogeochemistry 69:37–62
Rinnan R, Michelsen A, Jonasson S (2008) Effects of litter addition and warming on soil carbon, nutrient pools and microbial communities in a subarctic heath ecosystem. Appl Soil Ecol 39:271–281
Rinnan R, Stark S, Tolvanen A (2009) Responses of vegetation and soil microbial communities to warming and simulated herbivory in a subarctic heath. J Ecol 97:788–800
Rousk K, Sorensen PL, Michelsen A (2017) Nitrogen fixation in the high arctic: a source of ‘new’ nitrogen? Biogeochemistry 136:213–222
Rousk K, Sorensen P, Michelsen A (2018) What drives biological nitrogen fixation in high arctic tundra: moisture or temperature? Ecosphere 9:2117
Rustad L, Campbell J, Marion G, Norby R, Mitchell M, Hartley A, Cornelissen J, 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
Salazar A, Rousk K, Jónsdóttir IS, Bellenger J-P, Andrésson O (2020) Faster nitrogen cycling and more fungal and root biomass in cold ecosystems under experimental warming: a meta-analysis. Ecology 101:1–13
Salmon VG, Schädel C, Bracho R, Pegoraro E, Celis G, Mauritz M, Mack MC, Schuur EAG (2018) Adding depth to our understanding of nitrogen dynamics in permafrost soils. J Geophys Res Biogeosci 123:2497–2512
Schimel JP, Bilbrough C, Welker J (2004) Increased snow depth affects microbial activity and nitrogen mineralization in two Arctic tundra communities. Soil Biol Biochem 36:217–227
Semenchuk PR, Elberling B, Amtorp C, Winkler J, Rumpf S, Michelsen A, Cooper EJ (2015) Deeper snow alters soil nutrient availability and leaf nutrient status in high Arctic tundra. Biogeochemistry 124:81–94
Singh G, Kaur G, Williard K, Schoonover J, Kang J (2018) Monitoring of water and solute transport in the vadose zone: a review. Vadose Zone J 17:1–23
Sistla SA, Schimel JP (2013) Seasonal patterns of microbial extracellular enzyme activities in an arctic tundra soil: Identifying direct and indirect effects of long-term summer warming. Soil Biol Biochem 66:119–129
Sistla SA, Asao S, Schimel JP (2012) Detecting microbial N-limitation in tussock tundra soil: implications for Arctic soil organic carbon cycling. Soil Biol Biochem 55:78–84
Slater AG, Bohn TJ, McCreight JL, Serreze MC, Lettenmaier DP (2007) A multimodel simulation of pan-Arctic hydrology. J Geophys Res 112:1–17
Sørensen PL, Michelsen A, Jonasson S (2008) Ecosystem partitioning of 15N-glycine after long-term climate and nutrient manipulations, plant clipping and addition of labile carbon in a subarctic heath tundra. Soil Biol Biochem 40:2344–2350
Sullivan PF, Sommerkorn M, Rueth HM, Nadelhofer KJ, Shaver GR, Welker JM (2007) Climate and species affect fine root production with long-term fertilization in acidic tussock tundra near Toolik Lake, Alaska. Oecologia 153:643–652
Treat CC, Wollheim MH, Varner RK, Bowden WB (2016) Longer thaw seasons increase nitrogen availability for leaching during fall in tundra soils. Environ Res Lett 11:9
van der Kolk HJ, Heijmans MMPD, van Huissteden J, Pullens JWM, Berendse F (2016) Potential arctic tundra vegetation shifts in response to changing temperature, precipitation and permafrost thaw. Biogeosciences 13:6229–6245
Vickers H, Høgda KA, Solbø S, Karlsen SR, Tømmervik H, Aanes R, Hansen BB (2016) Changes in greening in the high Arctic: insights from a 30 year AVHRR max NDVI dataset for Svalbard. Environ Res Lett 11:105–109
Voigt C, Marushchak ME, Lamprecht RE, Jackowicz-Korczyński M, Lindgren A, Mastepanov M, Granlund L, Christensen TR, Tahvanainen T, Martikainen PJ, Biasi C (2017a) Increased nitrous oxide emissions from Arctic peatlands after permafrost thaw. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 114:6238–6243
Voigt C, Lamprecht RE, Marushchak ME, Lind SE, Novakovskiy A, Aurela M, Martikainen PJ, Biasi C (2017b) Warming of Subarctic tundra increases emissions of all three important greenhouse gases—carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. Glob Change Biol 23:3121–3138
Voigt C, Marushchak ME, Abbott BW, Biasi C, Elberling B, Siciliano SD, Sonnentag O, Stewart KJ, Yang Y, Martikainen PJ (2020) Nitrous oxide emissions from permafrost-affected soils. Nat Rev Earth Environ 1:420–434
Weintraub M, Schimel JP (2003) Interactions between carbon and nitrogen mineralization and soil organic matter chemistry in Arctic tundra soils. Ecosystems 6:129–143
Weintraub M, Schimel J (2005) Nitrogen cycling and the spread of shrubs control changes in the carbon balance of arctic tundra ecosystems. Bioscience 55:408–415
Westergaard-Nielsen A, Balstrøm T, Treier UA, Normand S, Elberling B (2020) Estimating meltwater retention and associated nitrate redistribution during snowmelt in an Arctic tundra landscape. Environ Res Lett 15:1–13
Wild B, Schnecker J, Bárta J, Capek P, Guggenberger G, Hofhansl F, Kaiser C, Lashchinsky N, Mikutta R, Mooshammer M, Santrůčková H, Shibistova O, Urich T, Zimov SA, Richter A (2013) Nitrogen dynamics in turbic cryosols from Siberia and Greenland. Soil Biol Biochem 67:85–93
Xu X, Thornton PE, Post WM (2013) A global analysis of soil microbial biomass carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus in terrestrial ecosystems. Glob Ecol Biogeogr 22:737–749
Yano Y, Shaver GR, Giblin AE, Rastetter EB, Nadelhoffer KJ (2010) Nitrogen dynamics in a small arctic watershed: retention and downhill movement of 15N. Ecol Monogr 80:331–351
Zhang XZ, Shen ZX, Fu G (2015) A meta-analysis of the effects of experimental warming on soil carbon and nitrogen dynamics of the Tibetain Plateeau. Appl Soil Ecol 87:32–38
Zhang W, Jansson P-E, Sigsgaard C, McConnell A, Jammet MM, Westergaard-Nielsen A, Lund M, Friborg T, Michelsen A, Elberling B (2019) Model-data fusion to assess year-round CO2fluxes for an arctic heath ecosystem in West Greenland (69°N). Agric For Meteorol 272–273:176–186
Zhu Q, Iversen CM, Riley WJ, Slette IJ, Vander S, Holly M (2016) Root traits explain observed tundra vegetation Nitrogen uptake patterns: implications for trait-based land models. J Geophys Res Biogeosci 121:3101–3112
Acknowledgements
We gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the Danish National Research Foundation (CENPERM DNRF100). We thank Arctic Station for collaboration and logistics in performing fieldwork, E. Kolstad for N2O measurements in 2018, W. Xu, B. Danielsen and A. Lambæk for help in the field in 2019, S. Ludvigsen, M. Wahlgren and G. Sylvester and E. V. Nielsen for help with lab analyses. M. Nilsson was invaluable for sample preparation. K. Rousk kindly helped with knowledge and advice. We thank the three anonymous reviewers and the handling editor for constructive and useful comments, which improved the manuscript markedly.
Funding
We gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the Danish National Research Foundation (CENPERM DNRF100).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
Not applicable.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare that are relevant to the content of this article.
Additional information
Responsible Editor: Chris D. Evans.
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
The original version of this article unfortunately contained a typesetting mistake in Equation (1). The original article has been corrected.
Supplementary Information
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Rasmussen, L.H., Zhang, W., Ambus, P. et al. Nitrogen transport in a tundra landscape: the effects of early and late growing season lateral N inputs on arctic soil and plant N pools and N2O fluxes. Biogeochemistry 157, 69–84 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-021-00855-y
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-021-00855-y