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Large Loss of Dissolved Organic Nitrogen from Nitrogen-Saturated Forests in Subtropical China

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Abstract

Dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) has recently been recognized as an important component of terrestrial N cycling, especially under N-limited conditions; however, the effect of increased atmospheric N deposition on DON production and loss from forest soils remains controversial. Here we report DON and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) losses from forest soils receiving very high long-term ambient atmospheric N deposition with or without additional experimental N inputs, to investigate DON biogeochemistry under N-saturated conditions. We studied an old-growth forest, a young pine forest, and a young mixed pine/broadleaf forest in subtropical southern China. All three forests have previously been shown to have high nitrate (NO −3 ) leaching losses, with the highest loss found in the old-growth forest. We hypothesized that DON leaching loss would be forest specific and that the strongest response to experimental N input would be in the N-saturated old-growth forest. Our results showed that under ambient deposition (35–50 kg N ha−1 y−1 as throughfall input), DON leaching below the major rooting zone in all three forests was high (6.5–16.9 kg N ha−1 y−1). DON leaching increased 35–162% following 2.5 years of experimental input of 50–150 kg N ha−1 y−1. The fertilizer-driven increase of DON leaching comprised 4–17% of the added N. A concurrent increase in DOC loss was observed only in the pine forest, even though DOC:DON ratios declined in all three forests. Our data showed that DON accounted for 23–38% of total dissolved N in leaching, highlighting that DON could be a significant pathway of N loss from forests moving toward N saturation. The most pronounced N treatment effect on DON fluxes was not found in the old-growth forest that had the highest DON loss under ambient conditions. DON leaching was highly correlated with NO −3 leaching in all three forests. We hypothesize that abiotic incorporation of excess NO −3 (through chemically reactive NO −2 ) into soil organic matter and the consequent production of N-enriched dissolved organic matter is a major mechanism for the consistent and large DON loss in the N-saturated subtropical forests of southern China.

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Acknowledgments

This study was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 40703030; 30670392), Provincial Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong (No. 7006915), and Key Project of Chinese Academy of Sciences Knowledge Innovation Program (KZCX2-YW-432-2, KSCX2-SW-133). We are grateful to two anonymous reviewers for their critical and constructive comments and Dr. Curt Pueshel’s editorial assistance that greatly improved the quality of the manuscript. We also thank X.M. Fang, Y. Isogi, and others for assistance in the field and laboratory.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. South China Botanical Garden, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510650, China

    Yunting Fang, Jiangming Mo & Guoyi Zhou

  2. Department of Biological Sciences, State University of New York—Binghamton, Binghamton, New York, 13902, USA

    Weixing Zhu

  3. Forest & Landscape Denmark, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Hørsholm Kongevej 11, 2970, Hørsholm, Denmark

    Yunting Fang & Per Gundersen

  4. Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Tokyo, 183-8509, Japan

    Muneoki Yoh

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  1. Yunting Fang
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Correspondence to Yunting Fang.

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Dr. YT Fang performed research, analyzed data, and wrote the paper; Prof. WX Zhu participated in the initial experimental design, analyzed data, and took part in writing the paper; Prof. P Gundersen conceived the study and took part in writing; Prof. JM Mo and Prof. GY Zhou conceived study; Prof. M Yoh analyzed part of the data and contributed to the development of DON model.

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Fang, Y., Zhu, W., Gundersen, P. et al. Large Loss of Dissolved Organic Nitrogen from Nitrogen-Saturated Forests in Subtropical China. Ecosystems 12, 33–45 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-008-9203-7

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