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Disturbance and the resilience of coupled carbon and nitrogen cycling in a north temperate forest
Title | Disturbance and the resilience of coupled carbon and nitrogen cycling in a north temperate forest |
Publication Type | Journal Article |
Year of Publication | 2011 |
Authors | Nave L, Gough CM, Maurer KD, Bohrer G, Hardiman B, Le Moine J, Munoz A.B, Nadelhoffer K, Sparks JP, Strahm B.D, Vogel CS, Curtis PS |
Journal | Journal of Geophysical Research |
Volume | 116 |
Date Published | 2011 |
Keywords | SOILS |
Abstract | Much of our biogeochemical understanding of forest disturbances comes from studies of severe or stand-replacing events, which may have different impacts on coupled carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) cycling than subtler disturbances affecting only a fraction of the canopy. We measured a suite of interdependent C and N cycling processes following an experimental disturbance that accelerated mortality of the early successional canopy dominants (39% of basal area) in an aging secondary forest, hypothesizing that this subtle, spatially diffuse disturbance would temporarily decouple C and N cycles by decreasing belowground C allocation and thereby alter N cycling rates and pathways. We postulated that a short-term decrease in ecosystem C uptake and an increase in N leaching would accompany this decoupling, but that concomitant increases in N availability and uptake by later successional species would promote rapid resilience of coupled C-N cycles along new, stable trajectories. Disturbance decreased belowground C allocation and soil respiration, accelerated root turnover, and decreased root mass. These perturbations increased forest floor NH+ and NO- availability and NO emission, and declining root function caused water stress and N deficiency in senescent trees. Foliar N and leaf area increased in later successional trees, suggesting that enhanced N uptake supported new leaf area production. Two years after disturbance, N leaching losses and the decline in net ecosystem CO2 exchange were small, suggesting that coupled C-N cycling was resilient to this subtle experimental disturbance. Therefore, compared with the severe disturbances reported in the literature, our subtle disturbance likely will have different effects on longer-term forest biogeochemical trajectories. |
DOI | 10.1029/2011JG001758 |