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Partitioning of the source of leaf calcium of American beech and sugar maple using leaf Ca/Sr ratios: a predominantly surficial but variable depth of Ca uptake

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Abstract

Background and Aims

Reduced availability of calcium (Ca) has been linked to maple forest decline. We therefore aimed at assessing the contribution of the different soil horizons to leaf Ca of competing beech (Fagus grandifolia Ehrh.) and sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marsh.) to better understand the dynamics of Ca uptake.

Methods

Leaf Ca was partitioned using the Ca/Sr ratio approach in two mature forests of southern Quebec. A mass balance was also used at one site to validate the results obtained with the Ca/Sr approach.

Results

The L and F horizons contributed most of the leaf Ca of beech and maple with likely small contributions from the upper B and/or H/Ahe horizons. Leaf Ca/Sr ratios of beech were however more variable than those of maple. Using a mass balance, the organic horizons and upper mineral soil horizons were found to provide ca. 80 and 20 % of tree Ca uptake, respectively.

Conclusion

Beech and maple Ca uptake depth apportionment is on average similar but beech is likely more plastic in sourcing soil Ca. The low contribution of the mineral soil to leaf Ca at our sites can be linked to less favorable conditions for Ca uptake likely associated with low Ca/Al ratios.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and the Fonds Québécois de la Recherche sur la Nature et les Technologies for funding, and Hélène Lalande, Marie-Claude Turmel, Alain Brousseau, Erin Gertzen, Anne Murphy, Pierre-Olivier Quesnel, and Susan Beauregard for help in the field and in the laboratory.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Natural Resource Sciences, Macdonald Campus of McGill University, 21,111 Lakeshore, Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC, Canada, H9X 3V9

    Ching-Chih Chen, Benoît Côté & William H. Hendershot

  2. Department of Plant Science, Macdonald Campus of McGill University, 21,111 Lakeshore, Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC, Canada, H9X 3V9

    Frieda Beauregard

  3. UER Science et technologie, Téluq, Université du Québec, 100 rue Sherbrooke ouest, Montréal, QC, Canada, H2X 3P2

    Nicolas Bélanger

  4. Département de Géographie, Université de Montréal, 520 chemin de la Côte-Sainte-Catherine, Montréal, QC, Canada, H2V 2B8

    François Courchesne

  5. Centre d’étude de la forêt, Université du Québec à Montréal, Case postale 8888, succursale Centre-ville, Montréal, QC, Canada, H3C 3P8

    Benoît Côté & Nicolas Bélanger

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  1. Ching-Chih Chen
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  2. Frieda Beauregard
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  3. Benoît Côté
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  4. Nicolas Bélanger
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  5. François Courchesne
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  6. William H. Hendershot
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Correspondence to Benoît Côté.

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Chen, CC., Beauregard, F., Côté, B. et al. Partitioning of the source of leaf calcium of American beech and sugar maple using leaf Ca/Sr ratios: a predominantly surficial but variable depth of Ca uptake. Plant Soil 373, 229–242 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-013-1787-9

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