Mechanisms for retention of bioavailable nitrogen in volcanic rainforest soils

Huygens, Dries; Boeckx, Pascal; Templer, Pamela H.; Paulino, Leandro; Cleemput, Oswald Van; Oyarzún, Carlos; Müller, Christoph; Godoy, Roberto

doi:10.1038/ngeo252

Cited by 190 publications

(156 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…Recent studies have shown that forest volcanic soil of Southern Chile have very specialised microbial and abiotic retention processes which can reduce the risk for N leaching, despite the high N turnover rates determined in this soil (Huygens et al, 2008). Studies in these ecosystems indicated very high gross NH 4 + production fluxes, but also a suppression of autotrophic nitrification as a result of strong competition for available NH 4 + by abiotic immobilization processes and NH 4 + assimilating heterotrophic microorganisms (Huygens et al 2007).…”

Section: Nitrogen Leaching Lossesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of the Stocking Rate and Land Slope on Nitrogen Losses to Water on a Grazed Pasture of Southern Chile

Salazar¹,

Alfaro²,

Ledgard

et al. 2011

J. Soil Sci. Plant Nutr.

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Most of the studies on nitrogen (N) leaching have been carried out on cut grass, and there is a lack of information on beef grazed grasslands. The objective of this study was to quantify N runoff and leaching losses in beef production systems with two different immediate stocking rates (63 and 191 Holstein Friesian steers ha -1 day -1 ) and two land slopes (4 and 12%). Runoff and leachate samples were analyzed from 2004 to 2006 for total N, nitrate and ammonium. No significant differences for the total N losses were found between treatments (p > 0.05), which were low ranging from 0.9 to 26.8 kg N ha -1 yr -1 . The main pathway for the losses was leaching, which contributed >99% of the total N lost. The main form of N leaching was nitrate-N (>84%). Nitrate-N concentration in runoff samples was high, averaging 14 to 31 mg L -1 . We suggest that these low N losses could be related the low N fertiliser inputs in the pasture and to the N adsorption properties of volcanic soils and, so that further research is required on this subject.

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Section: Nitrogen Leaching Lossesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of the Stocking Rate and Land Slope on Nitrogen Losses to Water on a Grazed Pasture of Southern Chile

Salazar¹,

Alfaro²,

Ledgard

et al. 2011

J. Soil Sci. Plant Nutr.

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“…S2e10; d). The low autotrophic nitrification rates in this acidic soil could be due to low ammonia (NH 3 ) availability (Zhang et al, 2012b;Levy-Booth et al, 2014) and high NH 4 þ immobilization (Vitousek and Reiners, 1982;Huygens et al, 2008). The low autotrophic nitrification potential ensures N retention, and reduces the risk of NO 3 À loss under enhanced NH 4 þ deposition.…”

Section: The Effects Of Nhmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Many studies document the occurrence of DNAR in tropical/subtropical forest soils, a potential N conservation mechanism that redirects NO 3 À flow towards NH 4 þ (Silver et al, 2001(Silver et al, , 2005Rütting et al, 2008). Huygens et al (2008) pointed out that DNRA also depends directly on heterotrophic nitrification for substrate generation. Subtropical/tropical forest ecosystems are projected to receive enhanced N deposition (Galloway et al, 2008;Liu et al, 2013), but changes in the processes, rates and controls of soil N-cycling in these ecosystems under anthropogenic N inputs are less well understood (Silver et al, 2005;Corre et al, 2010;Cusack et al, 2011;Baldos et al, 2015;Gao et al, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Are nitrate production and retention processes in subtropical acidic forest soils responsive to ammonium deposition?

Gao

Kou

Yang

et al. 2016

Soil Biology and Biochemistry

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N tracing model Acid soil of subtropical forest a b s t r a c tChanges in soil N-cycling and retention processes in subtropical/tropical acidic forest ecosystems under anthropogenic N inputs are not well understood. We conducted a laboratory 15 N tracing study on an acid soil (pH values: 4.6 to 5.0) from a subtropical forest fertilized for more than 2.5 years at a rate of 0, 40, and 120 kg NH 4 CleN ha À1 yr À1 , respectively. To get a better resolution of mechanistic changes in soil N cycling and retention processes under NH 4 þ additions, we used a conceptual 15 N tracing model to quantify process-specific and pool-specific N transformation rates in soils. Gross N mineralization rates decreased at high NH 4 þ additions, which were paralleled by a reduction in fungal biomass and mineralization of recalcitrant organic N. Gross NH 4 þ immobilization rates did not show a change with increasing NH 4 þ additions. Interestingly, soil NO 3 À production (heterotrophic, autotrophic, and gross nitrification) and retention (NO 3 À immobilization and dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium) showed insensitivity to increasing additions of NH 4 þ . The mechanisms behind the lack of response of heterotrophic nitrification were unclear, but possibly related to the absence of significant changes in soil C: N ratio and soil acidity under increased NH 4 þ additions. Because of the low autotrophic nitrification potential and the lack of NH 4 þ limitation to autotrophic nitrifiers, autotrophic nitrification was unresponsive to NH 4 þ additions.NO 3 À immobilization rates appeared to be controlled by the NO 3 À produced from heterotrophic nitrification, as indicated by the positive relationship between NO 3 À immobilization and heterotrophic nitri-thus showing a lack of a change under increased NH 4 þ additions. DNRA seemed to be inherently less responsive to environmental changes such as NH 4 þ deposition. Our work demonstrates that enhanced NH 4 þ deposition has a low potential to stimulate soil NO 3 À production and weaken soil retention of NO 3 À in this, and perhaps other subtropical/tropical acidic forest ecosystems.

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“…If huemul deer (Hippocamelus bisulcus) inhabited North America, where acid rain produces soils low in Se, Flueck et al (2014) might be correct in their comments, but southern South America lacks chronic atmospheric pollution (Huygens et al 2008). It is important to consider that the data provided by Chihuailaf et al (2014) only suggest a condition that should be further investigated.…”

mentioning

confidence: 92%