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Belowground carbon cycling in a humid tropical forest decreases with fertilization

  • Ecosystem Ecology
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Abstract

Only a small fraction of the carbon (C) allocated belowground by trees is retained by soils in long-lived, decay-resistant forms, yet because of the large magnitude of terrestrial primary productivity, even small changes in C allocation or retention can alter terrestrial C storage. The humid tropics exert a disproportionately large influence over terrestrial C storage, but C allocation and belowground retention in these ecosystems remain poorly quantified. Using mass balance and 13C isotope methods, we examined the effects of afforestation and fertilization, two land-use changes of large-scale importance, on belowground C cycling at a humid tropical site in Hawaii. Here we report that in unfertilized plots, 80% of the C allocated belowground by trees to roots and mycorrhizae was returned to the atmosphere within 1 year; 9% of the belowground C flux was retained in coarse roots and 11% was retained as new soil C. The gains in new soil C were offset entirely by losses of old soil C. Further, while fertilization early in stand development increased C storage in the litter layer and in coarse roots, it reduced by 22% the flux of C moving through roots and mycorrhizae into mineral soils. Because soil C formation rates related strongly to rhizosphere C flux, fertilization may reduce an already limited capacity of these forests to sequester decay-resistant soil C.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Ingrid Døckersmith, Eugenie Euskirchen, Alex Friend, Noah Karberg, Gary King, Erik Lilleskov, Wendy Loya, Peter Vitousek, and Kurt Pregitzer for comments on earlier versions this manuscript; Elda-Rae Yoshimura, Tom Schubert, Tom Logan and Susan White for assistance with collection of data; C. Brewer, Inc. for the generous use of their land; and Giuseppe Giardina for encouragement and support. This work was funded by: the North Central Research Station—USDA Forest Service; Research Joint Venture Agreement 01-121 with the Rocky Mountain Research Station—USDA Forest Service; and, the US National Science Foundation (DEB93-06356 and DEB97-08521).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. United States Department of Agriculture-Forest Service, North Central Research Station, 410 MacInnes Drive, Houghton, MI 49931, USA

    Christian P. Giardina

  2. Department of Forest, Rangeland, and Watershed Stewardship and Graduate Degree Program in Ecology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA

    Dan Binkley & Michael G. Ryan

  3. United States Department of Agriculture-Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, 240, West Prospect Street, Fort Collins, CO 80526, USA

    Michael G. Ryan

  4. Department of Natural Resources conservation, Holdsworth Natural Research Center, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA

    James H. Fownes

  5. Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Management, University of Hawai’i at Manoa, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA

    Randy S. Senock

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  1. Christian P. Giardina
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  2. Dan Binkley
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  3. Michael G. Ryan
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  4. James H. Fownes
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  5. Randy S. Senock
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Correspondence to Christian P. Giardina.

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Giardina, C.P., Binkley, D., Ryan, M.G. et al. Belowground carbon cycling in a humid tropical forest decreases with fertilization. Oecologia 139, 545–550 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-004-1552-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-004-1552-0

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