Nitrogen and Carbon Interactions of Forest Soil Water

Abstract

In terrestrial ecosystems, nitrogen in soil water has mainly been considered in its inorganic plant available forms (NH₄, NO₃). Only few studies in forests have included the dissolved organic nitrogen fraction (e.g. Koopmans et al. 1996), although DON may be the dominant N form in soil water in many ecosystems (Sollins and McCorison 1981; Qualls et al. 1991). DON accounted for 95% of N losses in streams in an undisturbed natural temperate forest at pristine conditions in Chile (Hedin et al. 1995). Nitrogen losses in deep percolating soil water amounted to 2.2kg N ha⁻¹ a⁻¹ in both spruce and beech at Solling, Germany (Matzner 1988), a region with much higher atmospheric depositions.