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Soil nitrification and foliar δ15N declined with stand age in trembling aspen and jack pine forests in northern Alberta, Canada

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Abstract

Background and aims

Understanding changes in soil N cycling with stand development is critical for forest management as tree growth is affected by soil N availability. The aim of this study was to evaluate the changes in soil N availability and loss with stand development in trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) and jack pine (Pinus banksiana Lamb.) in northeastern Alberta, Canada.

Methods

Soil inorganic N availability (measured as N supply rate) and foliar N chemistry (N concentration and δ15N) in trembling aspen stands ranged from 52 to 70 years old (n = 7) and jack pine stands 43 to 78 years old (n = 8) were investigated in 2008 and 2009. The relationships among the ratios of NO3 --N to total inorganic N (NO3 --N/TIN), foliar N concentration, and foliar δ15N with stand age were also explored by regression analyses.

Results

Total inorganic N supply rates did not systematically change with stand age across stand types, soil layers and measurement periods; whereas NO3 --N/TIN showed a decreasing tendency with stand age, suggesting that nitrification and associated N loss potential became smaller in older stands with greater limitation in soil N availability. Foliar δ15N decreased with stand age from −1.7 to −4.7‰ for aspen and from −4.1 to −7.1‰ for jack pine, and there were positive correlations between foliar δ15N and soil NO3 --N/TIN, suggesting that decreased soil N loss led to less 15N-depletion in the inorganic N available for tree uptake in older stands. However, foliar N concentration did not significantly change with stand age, suggesting that there were other N sources such as organic N in the forest floor, in addition to the inorganic N, available for plant uptake.

Conclusions

Our results suggest that soil inorganic N availability became more limited as stand age increased. In addition, the ratio of NO3 --N/TIN and its relationship with foliar δ15N indicated decreased soil N loss potential and shifted N sources with stand age in boreal forests that are typically N-limited. Our study demonstrated that declining nitrification with increasing stand age might be one of the mechanisms mediating N-limitation in the studied boreal forests.

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Acknowledgements

This study was financially supported by the Cumulative Environmental Management Association (CEMA) in Alberta, Shell Canada Energy, the Alberta Energy Environment Technology Fund, the Oil Sands Research and Information Network (OSRIN), and Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development. We are grateful to Raza Purvez, Yue Hu, Pak Chow, Xin Zhang, Fengping Wu, and Shanghua Sun for their considerable help in the field work and laboratory analyses. We also thank two anonymous reviewers and Dr. Yong-Fu Li for their helpful comments that substantially improved an earlier version of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Forest and Soil Ecology, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, 110164, People’s Republic of China

    Ya-Lin Hu & De-Hui Zeng

  2. Department of Environment Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200241, People’s Republic of China

    En-Rong Yan

  3. Department of Renewable Resources, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada, T6G 2E3

    Ya-Lin Hu & Scott X. Chang

  4. Department of Rural & Biosystems Engineering, Chonnam National University, Gwangju, 500-757, South Korea

    Woo-Jung Choi

  5. Total E&P Canada Ltd., 2900, 240-4 Avenue SW, Calgary, AB, Canada, T2P 4H4

    Francis Salifu

  6. Shell Canada Energy, P.O. Box 5670, Hwy 63 North, Fort McMurray, AB, Canada, T9H 4W1

    Xiao Tan

  7. Land and Forestry Policy Branch, Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development, 10th Floor, Oxbridge Place, 9820 – 106 Street, Edmonton, AB, Canada, T5K 2J6

    Z. Chi Chen

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  1. Ya-Lin Hu
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Correspondence to Woo-Jung Choi or Scott X. Chang.

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Responsible Editor: Zucong Cai.

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Hu, YL., Yan, ER., Choi, WJ. et al. Soil nitrification and foliar δ15N declined with stand age in trembling aspen and jack pine forests in northern Alberta, Canada. Plant Soil 376, 399–409 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-013-1994-4

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