Influence of climate variability on plant production and N-mineralization in Central US grasslands

Barrett, John E.; McCulley, Rebecca L.; Lane, Diana; Burke, Ingrid C.; Lauenroth, William K.

doi:10.1658/1100-9233(2002)013[0383:iocvop]2.0.co;2

Cited by 17 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…The fact that in situ net N mineralization rates did not differ across sites and were not well-correlated with environmental parameters is similar to the results found by Barrett et al (2002). Previous work across a north-south mean annual temperature gradient in the western Great Plains has shown that potential N immobilization increases with increasing soil organic C content (Barrett and Burke 2000).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 83%

“…Discrepancies between CENTURY modeled and field-derived values are common (Kelly et al 2000), and both approaches have limitations (Schimel and Bennett 2004). Known technical problems with the in situ technique coupled with results from several field studies (Barrett et al 2002;Turner et al 1997), including this one, showing that net N mineralization appears uncoupled to climate and other potential controls on ecosystem processes suggests that different approaches to studying N cycling in these grassland systems are needed. Additional support for the hypothesis of increasing N conservation across the gradient comes from the plant community NUE and foliar d 15 N data.…”

Section: Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

“…While west-to-east climatic trends (i.e., increasing moisture and temperature) and increasing N pools should lead to higher N mineralization rates, concomitant increases in litter and soil C:N ratios and overall decreasing litter quality may counter-balance the effects of climate and pool sizes and result in no overall change in N cycling rates. At least one study supports this possibility by showing little systematic variation in net N mineralization rates measured in situ from a number of sites spread across the region (Barrett et al 2002).…”

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confidence: 91%

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Conservation of nitrogen increases with precipitation across a major grassland gradient in the Central Great Plains of North America

2008

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Regional analyses and biogeochemical models predict that ecosystem N pools and N cycling rates must increase from the semi-arid shortgrass steppe to the sub-humid tallgrass prairie of the Central Great Plains, yet few field data exist to evaluate these predictions. In this paper, we measured rates of net N mineralization, N in above- and belowground primary production, total soil organic matter N pools, soil inorganic N pools and capture in resin bags, decomposition rates, foliar (15)N, and N use efficiency (NUE) across a precipitation gradient. We found that net N mineralization did not increase across the gradient, despite more N generally being found in plant production, suggesting higher N uptake, in the wetter areas. NUE of plants increased with precipitation, and delta(15)N foliar values and resin-captured N in soils decreased, all of which are consistent with the hypothesis that N cycling is tighter at the wet end of the gradient. Litter decomposition appeared to play a role in maintaining this regional N cycling trend: litter decomposed more slowly and released less N at the wet end of the gradient. These results suggest that immobilization of N within the plant-soil system increases from semi-arid shortgrass steppe to sub-humid tallgrass prairie. Despite the fact that N pools increase along a bio-climatic gradient from shortgrass steppe to mixed grass and tallgrass prairie, this element becomes relatively more limiting and is therefore more tightly conserved at the wettest end of the gradient. Similar to findings from forested systems, our results suggest that grassland N cycling becomes more open to N loss with increasing aridity.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 83%

Section: Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 91%

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Conservation of nitrogen increases with precipitation across a major grassland gradient in the Central Great Plains of North America

2008

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“…This result is in agreement with seasonal studies in the semiarid short grass steppe (MAP 321 mm) where increased soil water content did not result in significant increases in net nitrogen mineralization rates (Hook et al 2000). Similarly, Barrett et al (2002) showed that there was no relationship between in situ net nitrogen mineralization and mean annual precipitation along a spatial precipitation gradient in the Central US grasslands, in spite of the modeled predictions that suggested a linear increase in net nitrogen mineralization rate with increasing rainfall . To assess the direct effects of water availability on litter decomposition and net nitrogen mineralization, Yahdjian et al (2006) conducted a manipulative experiment with rainout shelters in the semiarid Patagonian steppe.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 89%

Effects of adding water on seasonal variation of soil nitrogen availability under sandy grasslands in semi-arid region

Huang

Qian

et al. 2007

J. For. Res.

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Water is usally thought of a limiting factor for the restoration of semi-arid ecosystem. In the growing season of 2006, a study was conducted to determine the effects of modeling precipitation on seasonal patterns in concentrations of soil-available nitrogen and to describe the seasonal patterns in soil nitrogen availability and seasonal variation in the rates of net nitrogen mineralization of topsoil at Daqinggou ecological station in Keerqin sand lands, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China. Manipulation of water (80 mm) was designed to be added to experiment plots of sandy grasslands in dry season. Water addition (W) treatment and control (CK) treatment were separately taken in six replications and randomly assigned in 12 plots (4 m×4 m for each) with 2-m buffers betweens. Results showed that the content of soil inorganic nitrogen and net nitrogen mineralization rate were not affected by adding water in sandy grassland of Keerqin sand lands. Net nitrogen mineralization rates ranged from 0.5 μg⋅g -1 ⋅month -1 to 4 μg⋅g -1 ⋅month -1 . The highest values of soil inorganic nitrogen and net nitrogen mineralization occurred on October 15 in control plots. The seasonal changes of soil inorganic nitrogen contents exhibited "V" shape pattern that was related to seasonal patterns of soil ammonium-N (ascending trend) and nitrate-N transformation (descending trend).

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“…Variable precipitation is in part responsible for this pattern, along with spatial vegetation heterogeneity. Empirical correlation between annual precipitation and net N mineralization in water-limited ecosystems has been elusive (Barrett et al, 2002;. In addition, irrigation experiments did not always show a nitrogen mineralization pulse (for example, Fisher and Whitford, 1995;Fisher et al, 1987;Schimel and Parton, 1986).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Do litter decomposition and nitrogen mineralization show the same trend in the response to dry and wet years in the Patagonian steppe?

Yahdjian¹,

Sala²

2008

Journal of Arid Environments

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Influence of climate variability on plant production and N-mineralization in Central US grasslands

Cited by 17 publications

References 45 publications

Conservation of nitrogen increases with precipitation across a major grassland gradient in the Central Great Plains of North America

Conservation of nitrogen increases with precipitation across a major grassland gradient in the Central Great Plains of North America

Effects of adding water on seasonal variation of soil nitrogen availability under sandy grasslands in semi-arid region

Do litter decomposition and nitrogen mineralization show the same trend in the response to dry and wet years in the Patagonian steppe?

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