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Alternative Strategies for Nutrient Cycling in Acidic and Calcareous Forests in the Luxembourg Cuesta Landscape

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The Luxembourg Gutland Landscape

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Abstract

In the forests of the Luxembourg cuesta landscape, nutrient cycling is affected by parent material, but in a different way than usually assumed. We challenge the ‘conventional wisdom’ that net N-mineralization is higher in calcareous than in acidic soils, due to higher biological activity and gross N-mineralization. In four separate laboratory incubation experiments, net N-mineralization was higher in acidic than in calcareous soil. Experiments with different tree species showed that soil type was even more important than litter quality. In acidic forests, high net N-mineralization may be due to dense organic layers, but also to differences in soil communities, which are dominated by fungi at low pH versus bacteria at high pH. Fungi have lower N-demand than bacteria, and may thus mitigate low activity and gross N-release. Model studies suggested that microbial immobilization was below 20% in acidic soil, and above 80% in calcareous soil, in both organic layer and mineral topsoil. Differences between fungi and bacteria were supported by selective inhibition. Microbial immobilization significantly decreased with the bactericide streptomycin, while respiration increased with the fungicide cycloheximide. This further supports that bacteria and fungi, and with them calcareous and acidic soils, show different strategies for N-nutrition. For P-nutrition, differences between calcareous and acidic soils are also important, as net P-mineralization mainly occurred in the organic layer, due to chemical sorption in the mineral soil. As a result, in the Luxembourg cuesta landscape, availability of both N and P may be higher in acidic than calcareous forests.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Bas van Dalen, Greet Kooijman-Schouten, Benito Martinez-Hernandez, Jan van Mourik and Madeleine Schilder for their contribution to fieldwork and data collection, and Leo Hoitinga, Leen de Lange, Piet Wartenbergh and Joke Westerveld for their support in the laboratory.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, Science Park, PO Box 94248, 1090 GE, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    A. M. Kooijman, K. Kalbitz & A. Smit

  2. Technische Universität Dresden, Bodenressourcen und Landnutzung, University of Amsterdam, Pienner Straße 19, 01737, Tharandt, Germany

    K. Kalbitz

  3. Alterra, PO Box 47, 6700 AA Wageningen, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    A. Smit

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  1. A. M. Kooijman
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Correspondence to A. M. Kooijman .

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  1. Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED), University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    A. M. Kooijman

  2. Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED), University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    L.H. Cammeraat

  3. Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED), University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    A.C. Seijmonsbergen

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Kooijman, A.M., Kalbitz, K., Smit, A. (2018). Alternative Strategies for Nutrient Cycling in Acidic and Calcareous Forests in the Luxembourg Cuesta Landscape. In: Kooijman, A., Cammeraat, L., Seijmonsbergen, A. (eds) The Luxembourg Gutland Landscape. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65543-7_7

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