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Impacts of climate and disturbance on nutrient fluxes and stoichiometry in mixed-conifer forests

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Abstract

Elucidating climatic impacts on stream nutrient export and stoichiometry will improve the understanding of forest carbon (C) storage in a warmer world. We analyzed C, nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) cycles in four watersheds within a rain-snow transition site and another four within a higher-elevation, snow-dominated site, in California’s mixed-conifer zone. We used these two sites in a space-for-time substitution to assess the potential warming impacts on nutrient cycles in currently snow-dominated areas that will become more rain-dominated. During a non-drought period (water year (WY) 2004–2011), mean annual stream exports of C and N in particulate forms at the transition site were twice that at the snow-dominated site, suggesting sediment-associated nutrient losses may increase with warming. The transition site had 12% lower N but twice P content in mineral horizons, lower N:P mass ratios in organic horizons, and lower stream export of dissolved inorganic N than the snow-dominated site. These differences suggest montane forests may have lower inputs of available N relative to P with warming. In addition, given strong interests in forest thinning to increase drought resiliency, we examined changes in stream nutrient export after thinning and during a major drought period (WY 2013–2015). Stream exports of C, N, and P were similar between unthinned and thinned watersheds during drought, suggesting negligible thinning impacts on stream nutrient export during excessively dry periods. Taken together, our results suggest that as the climate warms, California’s montane forests may lose more nutrients through erosion and increase their N-P nutritional imbalance.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available at: https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2017-0037; https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2018-0028; https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2017-0040.

Code availability

Not applicable.

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Acknowledgements

This study was conducted at the Kings River Experimental Watersheds (KREW), established and managed by the Pacific Southwest Research Station of the USDA Forest Service. The KREW study was implemented using funds from the National Fire Plan of the USDA Forest Service. Additional funding for this work was provided by the Pacific Southwest Research Station of the USDA Forest Service and the National Science Foundation through its support of the Southern Sierra Critical Zone Observatory (SSCZO; EAR-0725097, 1239521, and 1331939). We thank the Santa Catalina Mountains & Jemez River Basin Critical Zone Observatory (funded by National Science Foundation) for providing data from other granitoid forested watersheds. We also thank many others from UC Merced for their dedicated work in collecting field samples and laboratory processing for the SSCZO project. Finally, we thank the staff from the Pacific Southwest Research Station for their ongoing support of all aspects of KREW, and for providing data and water samples for this research.

Funding

This work was provided by the Pacific Southwest Research Station of the USDA Forest Service and the National Science Foundation through its support of the Southern Sierra Critical Zone Observatory (EAR-0725097, 1239521, and 1331939).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sierra Nevada Research Institute, University of California, Merced, CA, USA

    Yang Yang, Asmeret Asefaw Berhe, Mohammad Safeeq, Erin M. Stacy, Roger C. Bales, Ryan R. Bart & Stephen C. Hart

  2. Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of California, Merced, CA, USA

    Asmeret Asefaw Berhe, Morgan E. Barnes & Stephen C. Hart

  3. Pacific Southwest Research Station, Forest Service, US Department of Agriculture, Fresno, CA, USA

    Carolyn T. Hunsaker

  4. Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, University of Nevada, Reno, NV, USA

    Dale W. Johnson

  5. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Merced, CA, USA

    Mohammad Safeeq & Roger C. Bales

  6. Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of California, Davis, CA, USA

    Mohammad Safeeq

  7. Earth and Biological Sciences Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA

    Morgan E. Barnes

  8. Regional Water Quality Control Board, Colorado River Basin Region, Palm Desert, CA, USA

    Emma P. McCorkle

  9. Department of Earth System Science, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA

    Michael L. Goulden

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Contributions

YY, SCH, and AAB developed the concept of this manuscript. YY, CTH, DWJ, MS, EPM, EMS, and SCH conducted laboratory analyses. CTH designed and implemented the KREW study, and CTH and DWJ contributed stream and soil chemistry data. MEB and RRB performed preliminary data analyses. YY conducted the full data analyses and drafted the manuscript. All authors contributed to revisions.

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Correspondence to Yang Yang.

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Yang, Y., Berhe, A.A., Hunsaker, C.T. et al. Impacts of climate and disturbance on nutrient fluxes and stoichiometry in mixed-conifer forests. Biogeochemistry 158, 1–20 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-021-00882-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-021-00882-9

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