Abstract
Ecosystem impacts from nitrogen (N) deposition are related to (1) the degree to which plant growth responds to increases in N supply and (2) soil buffering capacity. Herbaceous communities dominated by plants adapted to low nutrient supply typically have low capacity to take up inputs of N. As a result they are more highly susceptible to loss of base cations, acidification, and increased production of toxic aluminium, manganese, and iron. Here we show that alpine ecosystems with acidic parent material display loss of biotic uptake together with soil acidification at relatively low inputs of N deposition, and can possibly reach extreme levels of acidification as indicated by a shift from an aluminium to an iron dominated soil buffering system.
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Funding for this research was provided by the U.S. National Science Foundation, the National Park Service, and the Slovak Academy of Sciences.
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Bowman, W., Halada, L., Hreško, J., Cleveland, C., Baron, J., Murgel, J. (2014). How Much is too Much? Nitrogen Critical Loads and Eutrophication and Acidification in Oligotrophic Ecosystems. In: Sutton, M., Mason, K., Sheppard, L., Sverdrup, H., Haeuber, R., Hicks, W. (eds) Nitrogen Deposition, Critical Loads and Biodiversity. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7939-6_32
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7939-6_32
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