Advertisement

Biogeochemistry

, Volume 138, Issue 2, pp 215–224 | Cite as

Effects of long-term nitrogen deposition on phosphorus leaching dynamics in a mature tropical forest

  • Kaijun Zhou
  • Xiankai Lu
  • Taiki Mori
  • Qinggong Mao
  • Cong Wang
  • Mianhai Zheng
  • Hui Mo
  • Enqing Hou
  • Jiangming Mo
Article
First Online:
Received:
Accepted:
  • 274 Downloads

Abstract

Elevated anthropogenic nitrogen (N) deposition is suggested to affect ecosystem phosphorus (P) cycling through altered biotic P demand and soil acidification. To date, however, there has been little information on how long-term N deposition regulates P fluxes in tropical forests, where P is often depleted. To address this question, we conducted a long-term N addition experiment in a mature tropical forest in southern China, using the following N treatments: 0, 50, 100, and 150 kg N ha−1 year−1. We hypothesized that (i) tropical forest ecosystems have conservative P cycling with low P output, and (ii) long-term N addition decreases total dissolved phosphorus (TDP) leaching losses due to reduced litter decomposition rates and stimulated P sorption deriving from accelerated soil acidification. As hypothesized, we demonstrated a closed P cycling with low leaching outputs in our forest. Under experimental N addition, TDP flux in throughfall was significantly reduced, suggesting that N addition may result in a less internal P recycling. Contrary to our hypothesis, N addition did not decrease TDP leaching, despite reduced litter decomposition and accelerated soil acidification. We find that N addition might have negative impacts on biological P uptake without affecting TDP leaching, and that the amount of TDP leaching from soil could be lower than a minimum concentration for TDP retention. Overall, we conclude that long-term N deposition does not necessarily decrease P effluxes from tropical forest ecosystems with conservative P cycling.

Keywords

Nitrogen deposition Phosphorus cycling Phosphorus leaching Tropical forest 
This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

Notes

Acknowledgements

This study was funded by the National Basic Research Program of China (2014CB954400) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 41731176, 41473112, 31370498) and Youth Innovation Promotion Association CAS (2015287). We wish to thank Lijie Deng, Shaoming Cai and Quannian Nie for skillful field work. We also thank Xiaoying You and Shaowei Chen for laboratory work. We would like to express our sincere appreciation to the three anonymous reviewers and the editor for their insightful comments, which have greatly aided us in improving the quality of our paper.

References

  1. Bol R, Julich D, Brodlin D, Siemens J, Kaiser K, Dippold MA, Spielvogel S, Zilla T, Mewes D, von Blanckenburg F, Puhlmann H, Holzmann S, Weiler M, Amelung W, Lang F, Kuzyakov Y, Feger K-H, Gottselig N, Klumpp E, Missong A, Winkelmann C, Uhlig D, Sohrt J, von Wilpert K, Wu B, Hagedorn F (2016) Dissolved and colloidal phosphorus fluxes in forest ecosystems an almost blind spot in ecosystem research. J Plant Nutr Soil Sci 179(4):425–438CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  2. Bray RH, Kurtz LT (1945) Determination of total, organic, and available forms of phosphorus in soils. Soil Sci 59(1):39–45CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  3. Campo J, Vazquez-Yanes C (2004) Effects of nutrient limitation on aboveground carbon dynamics during tropical dry forest regeneration in Yucatan, Mexico. Ecosystems 7(3):311–319CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  4. Cleveland CC, Townsend AR, Schmidt SK (2002) Phosphorus limitation of microbial processes in moist tropical forests: evidence from short-term laboratory incubations and field studies. Ecosystems 5(7):680–691CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  5. Crews TE, Kitayama K, Fownes JH, Riley RH, Herbert DA, Muellerdombois D, Vitousek PM (1995) Changes in soil-phosphorus fractions and ecosystem dynamics across a long chronosequence in Hawaii. Ecology 76(5):1407–1424CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  6. Das R, Lawrence D, D’Odorico P, DeLonge M (2011) Impact of land use change on atmospheric P inputs in a tropical dry forest. J Geophys Res Biogeosci 116:G01027CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  7. Deforest JL, Scott LG (2010) Available organic soil phosphorus has an important influence on microbial community composition. Soil Sci Soc Am J 74(6):2059–2066CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  8. Deng M, Liu L, Sun Z, Piao S, Ma Y, Chen Y, Wang J, Qiao C, Wang X, Li P (2016) Increased phosphate uptake but not resorption alleviates phosphorus deficiency induced by nitrogen deposition in temperate Larix principis-rupprechtii plantations. New Phytol 212(4):1019–1029CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  9. Deng Q, Hui D, Dennis S, Reddy KC (2017) Responses of terrestrial ecosystem phosphorus cycling to nitrogen addition: a meta-analysis. Glob Ecol Biogeogr 26(6):713–728CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  10. Devau N, Le Cadre E, Hinsinger P, Jaillard B, Gerard F (2009) Soil pH controls the environmental availability of phosphorus: experimental and mechanistic modelling approaches. Appl Geochem 24(11):2163–2174CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  11. Dodd RJ, McDowell RW, Condron LM, Nzga (2012) Using nitrogen fertiliser to decrease phosphorus loss from high phosphorus soils. In: Proceedings of the New Zealand Grassland Association, Vol 74, pp 121–126Google Scholar
  12. Elser JJ, Bracken MES, Cleland EE, Gruner DS, Harpole WS, Hillebrand H, Ngai JT, Seabloom EW, Shurin JB, Smith JE (2007) Global analysis of nitrogen and phosphorus limitation of primary producers in freshwater, marine and terrestrial ecosystems. Ecol Lett 10(12):1135–1142CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  13. Fang H, Mo J, Peng S, Li Z, Wang H (2007) Cumulative effects of nitrogen additions on litter decomposition in three tropical forests in southern China. Plant Soil 297(1–2):233–242CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  14. Fang YT, Gundersen P, Mo JM, Zhu WX (2008) Input and output of dissolved organic and inorganic nitrogen in subtropical forests of South China under high air pollution. Biogeosciences 5(2):339–352CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  15. Franca Resende JC, Markewitz D, Klink CA, da Cunha Bustamante MM, Davidson EA (2011) Phosphorus cycling in a small watershed in the Brazilian Cerrado: impacts of frequent burning. Biogeochemistry 105(1–3):105–118CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  16. Galloway JN, Aber JD, Erisman JW, Seitzinger SP, Howarth RW, Cowling EB, Cosby BJ (2003) The nitrogen cascade. Bioscience 53(4):341–356CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  17. Gehring C, Denich M, Kanashiro M, Vlek PLG (1999) Response of secondary vegetation in Eastern Amazonia to relaxed nutrient availability constraints. Biogeochemistry 45(3):223–241Google Scholar
  18. Gruber N, Galloway JN (2008) An Earth-system perspective of the global nitrogen cycle. Nature 451(7176):293–296CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  19. Hawkins JMB, Scholefield D (1996) Molybdate-reactive phosphorus losses in surface and drainage waters from permanent grassland. J Environ Qual 25(4):727–732CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  20. Hedin LO, Vitousek PM, Matson PA (2003) Nutrient losses over four million years of tropical forest development. Ecology 84(9):2231–2255CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  21. Hidaka A, Kitayama K (2009) Divergent patterns of photosynthetic phosphorus-use efficiency versus nitrogen-use efficiency of tree leaves along nutrient-availability gradients. J Ecol 97(5):984–991CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  22. Holzmann S, Missong A, Puhlmann H, Siemens J, Bol R, Klumpp E, Von Wilpert K (2016) Impact of anthropogenic induced nitrogen input and liming on phosphorus leaching in forest soils. J Plant Nutr Soil Sci 179(4):443–453CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  23. Huang Z, Fan Z (1982) The climate of Ding Hu Shan. Trop Subtrop For Ecosyst 1(1):11–23Google Scholar
  24. Huang Z, Ding M, Zhang Z, Yi W (1994) The hydrological processes and nitrogen dynamics in a monsoon evergreen broad-leafed forest of Dinghu Shan. Acta Phytoecol Sin 18(2):194–199Google Scholar
  25. Kaiser K, Guggenberger G, Zech W (2000) Organically bound nutrients in dissolved organic matter fractions in seepage and pore water of weakly developed forest soils. Acta Hydrochim Hydrobiol 28(7):411–419CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  26. Kaspari M, Garcia MN, Harms KE, Santana M, Wright SJ, Yavitt JB (2008) Multiple nutrients limit litterfall and decomposition in a tropical forest. Ecol Lett 11(1):35–43Google Scholar
  27. Kellman M (1979) Soil enrichment by neotropical savanna trees. J Ecol 67(2):565–577CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  28. Kitayama K, Aiba SI (2002) Ecosystem structure and productivity of tropical rain forests along altitudinal gradients with contrasting soil phosphorus pools on Mount Kinabalu, Borneo. J Ecol 90(1):37–51CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  29. Lü C, Tian H (2007) Spatial and temporal patterns of nitrogen deposition in China: synthesis of observational data. J Geophys Res Atmos.  https://doi.org/10.1029/2006JD007990 Google Scholar
  30. Lu X, Mo J, Gilliam FS, Zhou G, Fang Y (2010) Effects of experimental nitrogen additions on plant diversity in an old-growth tropical forest. Glob Change Biol 16(10):2688–2700CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  31. Lu X, Gilliam FS, Yu G, Li L, Mao Q, Chen H, Mo J (2013) Long-term nitrogen addition decreases carbon leaching in a nitrogen-rich forest ecosystem. Biogeosciences 10(6):3931–3941CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  32. Lu X, Mao Q, Gilliam FS, Luo Y, Mo J (2014) Nitrogen deposition contributes to soil acidification in tropical ecosystems. Glob Change Biol 20(12):3790–3801CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  33. Marklein AR, Houlton BZ (2012) Nitrogen inputs accelerate phosphorus cycling rates across a wide variety of terrestrial ecosystems. New Phytol 193(3):696–704CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  34. Matson P, Lohse KA, Hall SJ (2002) The globalization of nitrogen deposition: consequences for terrestrial ecosystems. Ambio 31(2):113CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  35. McGowan H, Ledgard N (2005) Enhanced dust deposition by trees recently established on degraded rangeland. J R Soc N Z 35(3):269–277CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  36. Miller AJ, Schuur EAG, Chadwick OA (2001) Redox control of phosphorus pools in Hawaiian montane forest soils. Geoderma 102(3):219–237CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  37. Mo J, Brown S, Peng S, Kong G (2003) Nitrogen availability in disturbed, rehabilitated and mature forests of tropical China. For Ecol Manag 175(1–3):573–583CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  38. Mo J, Brown S, Xue J, Fang Y, Li Z (2006) Response of litter decomposition to simulated N deposition in disturbed, rehabilitated and mature forests in subtropical China. Plant Soil 282(1–2):135–151CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  39. Newman EI (1995) Phosphorus inputs to terrestrial ecosystems. J Ecol 83(4):713–726CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  40. Parker GG (1983) Throughfall and stemflow in the forest nutrient cycle. Adv Ecol Res 13:57–133CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  41. Parron LM, Cunha Bustamante MM, Markewitz D (2011) Fluxes of nitrogen and phosphorus in a gallery forest in the Cerrado of central Brazil. Biogeochemistry 105(1–3):89–104CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  42. Richardson SJ, Allen RB, Doherty JE (2008) Shifts in leaf N:P ratio during resorption reflect soil P in temperate rainforest. Funct Ecol 22(4):738–745CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  43. Shen C, Liu D, Peng S, Sun Y, Jiang M, Yi W, Xing C, Gao Q, Li ZA, Zhou G (1999) 14C measurement of forest soils in Dinghushan Biosphere Reserve. Sci Bull 44(3):251–256CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  44. Tian D, Niu S (2015) A global analysis of soil acidification caused by nitrogen addition. Environ Res Lett 10(2):024019CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  45. Tipping E, Benham S, Boyle JF, Crow P, Davies J, Fischer U, Guyatt H, Helliwell R, Jackson-Blake L, Lawlor AJ, Monteith DT, Rowe EC, Toberman H (2014) Atmospheric deposition of phosphorus to land and freshwater. Environ Sci Process Impacts 16(7):1608–1617CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  46. Turner BL, Wright SJ (2014) The response of microbial biomass and hydrolytic enzymes to a decade of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium addition in a lowland tropical rain forest. Biogeochemistry 117(1):115–130CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  47. Turner BL, Condron LM, Richardson SJ, Peltzer DA, Allison VJ (2007) Soil organic phosphorus transformations during pedogenesis. Ecosystems 10(7):1166–1181CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  48. Vet R, Artz RS, Carou S, Shaw M, Ro C-U, Aas W, Baker A, Bowersox VC, Dentener F, Galy-Lacaux C, Hou A, Pienaar JJ, Gillett R, Cristina Forti M, Gromov S, Hara H, Khodzher T, Mahowald NM, Nickovic S, Rao PSP, Reid NW (2014) A global assessment of precipitation chemistry and deposition of sulfur, nitrogen, sea salt, base cations, organic acids, acidity and pH, and phosphorus. Atmos Environ 93:3–100CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  49. Vetaas OR (1992) Micro-site effects of trees and shrubs in dry savannas. J Veg Sci 3(3):337–344CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  50. Vitousek PM (1984) Litterfall, nutrienr cycling, and nutrient limitation in tropical forests. Ecology 65(1):285–298CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  51. Vitousek PM, Sanford RL (1986) Nutrient cycling in moist tropical forest. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 17:137–167CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  52. Vitousek PM, Porder S, Houlton BZ, Chadwick OA (2010) Terrestrial phosphorus limitation: mechanisms, implications, and nitrogen-phosphorus interactions. Ecol Appl 20(1):5–15CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  53. Walker TW, Syers JK (1976) Fate of phosphorus during pedogenesis. Geoderma 15(1):1–19CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  54. Wen D, Wei P, Kong G, Ye W (1999) Production and turnover rate of fine roots in two lower subtropical forest sites at Dinghushan. Acta Phytoecol Sin 23(4):361–369Google Scholar
  55. Zhang N, Liu X, Li K, Chu G, Yan J (2011) Differential patterns of nutrient elements in rainfall and its redistribution in three typical subtropical forests in South China. Chin J Ecol 30(2):193–200Google Scholar
  56. Zhu J, Wang Q, He N, Smith MD, Elser JJ, Du J, Yuan G, Yu G, Yu Q (2016) Imbalanced atmospheric nitrogen and phosphorus depositions in China: implications for nutrient limitation. J Geophys Res Biogeosci 121(6):1605–1616CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Copyright information

© Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018

Authors and Affiliations

  • Kaijun Zhou
    • 1
    • 2
  • Xiankai Lu
    • 1
  • Taiki Mori
    • 1
  • Qinggong Mao
    • 1
  • Cong Wang
    • 1
    • 2
  • Mianhai Zheng
    • 1
  • Hui Mo
    • 1
  • Enqing Hou
    • 1
  • Jiangming Mo
    • 1
  1. 1.Key Laboratory of Vegetation Restoration and Management of Degraded Ecosystems, and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Botany, South China Botanical GardenChinese Academy of SciencesGuangzhouChina
  2. 2.University of Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijingChina

Personalised recommendations

Cite article

Buy options