Nitrogen deposition and increased carbon accumulation in ombrotrophic peatlands in eastern Canada

Turunen, Jukka; Roulet, Nigel T.; Moore, Tim R.; Richard, Pierre J. H.

doi:10.1029/2003gb002154

Cited by 155 publications

(138 citation statements)

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“…A key characteristic of ombrotrophic bogs is that N, P and other elements (e.g., Ca, K, Mg) vital to their biogeochemical functioning (Bridgham et al, 1998;Bubier et al, 2007;Damman, 1986) and plant assemblage structure (Baker and Boatman, 1990;Fritz et al, 2012;Gotelli et al, 2008) are almost exclusively supplied via the atmosphere (Damman, 1990;Kellogg and Bridgham, 2003;Malmer, 1988). Such inputs of N and P are estimated to be low (Tipping et al, 2014;Turunen et al, 2004), suggesting that their availability should limit peat bog primary production (Schlesinger and Bernhardt, 2013), an effect that has been demonstrated experimentally (Aerts et al, 1992;Aerts et al, 2001;Olid et al, 2014). Although they are both supplied from the atmosphere, N and P differ in the mechanisms by which this supply takes place.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, there is conflicting evidence about the possible role of recent (20th Century) anthropogenically-driven atmospheric nutrient enrichment (Galloway et al, 2004;Vitousek et al, 1997). Malmer (1988) observed a latitudinal gradient of bog surface N concentrations that reflected the deposition rates across Sweden and Norway (Malmer, 1988), while Gorham and Janssens (2005) found no recent increase at sites across North America despite high N deposition (Turunen et al, 2004). Where observed, increases in N concentration with depth have been attributed primarily to preferential decay and loss of C during progressive decomposition of the plant-derived organic matter (Malmer and Holm, 1984;Craft and Richardson, 1993;Kuhry and Vitt, 1996;Malmer and Wallén, 2004;Wang et al, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Long-term macronutrient stoichiometry of UK ombrotrophic peatlands

Schillereff

Boyle

Toberman

et al. 2016

Science of The Total Environment

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• C, N and P concentrations and longterm burial rates in UK peat are of similar magnitude to published values elsewhere.• The long-term burial flux in UK peat of P is broadly consistent with atmospheric deposition rates; N burial exceeds atmospheric deposition, consistent with substantial N fixation by peat bogs.• N and P concentrations in peat are strongly associated in both UK and sites elsewhere in the world, consistent with a key role for P in biological fixation of N and C. In this paper we report new data on peat carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) concentrations and accumulation rates for 15 sites in the UK. Concentrations of C, N and P measured in peat from five ombrotrophic blanket mires, spanning 4000-10,000 years to present were combined with existing nutrient data from ten Scottish ombrotrophic peat bogs to provide the first UK perspective on millennial scale macronutrient concentrations in ombrotrophic peats. Long-term average C, N and P concentrations (0-1.25 m) for the UK are 54.8, 1.56 and 0.039 wt%, of similar magnitude to the few published comparable sites worldwide. The uppermost peat (0-0.2 m) is enriched in P and N (51.0, 1.86, and 0.070 wt%) relative to the deeper peat (0.5-1.25 m, 56.3, 1.39, and 0.027 wt%). Long-term average (whole core) accumulation rates of C, N and P are 25.3 ± 2.2 gC m −2 year −1 (mean ± SE), 0.70 ± 0.09 gN m −2 year −1 and 0.018 ± 0.004 gP m −2 year −1 , again similar to values reported elsewhere in the world. The two most significant findings are: 1) that a regression model of N concentration on P concentration and mean annual precipitation, based on global meta data for surface peat samples, can explain 54% of variance in N concentration in these UK peat profiles; and 2) budget calculations for the UK peat G R A P H I C A L A B S T R A C T a b s t r a c t a r t i c l e i n f o Contents lists available at ScienceDirectScience of the Total Environment j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w . e l s e v i e r . c o m / l o c a t e / s c i t o t e n v cores yield an estimate for long-term average N-fixation of 0.8 g m −2 year −1 . Our UK results, and comparison with others sites, corroborate published estimates of N storage in northern boreal peatlands through the Holocene as ranging between 8 and 15 Pg N. However, the observed correlation of N% with both mean annual precipitation and P concentration allows a potential bias in global estimates that do not take this into account. The peat sampling data set has been deposited at the NERC Data Centre (Toberman et al., 2016).

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long-term macronutrient stoichiometry of UK ombrotrophic peatlands

Schillereff

Boyle

Toberman

et al. 2016

Science of The Total Environment

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“…The effect of increased N availability is less straight-forward because a small increase in N can enhance Sphagnum production at locations where N is a limiting nutrient (Turunen et al 2004). However, when N concentrations exceed a critical threshold value, Sphagnum production and cover are reduced (Berendse et al 2001;Gerdol et al 2007;Gunnarsson and Rydin 2000;Lamers et al 2000).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Response of Sphagnum species mixtures to increased temperature and nitrogen availability

et al. 2009

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To predict the role of ombrotrophic bogs as carbon sinks in the future, it is crucial to understand how Sphagnum vegetation in bogs will respond to global change. We performed a greenhouse experiment to study the effects of two temperature treatments (17.5 and 21.7°C) and two N addition treatments (0 and 4 g N m -2 year -1 ) on the growth of four Sphagnum species from three geographically interspersed regions: S. fuscum, S. balticum (northern and central Sweden), S. magellanicum and S. cuspidatum (southern Sweden). We studied the growth and cover change in four combinations of these Sphagnum species during two growing seasons. Sphagnum height increment and production were affected negatively by high temperature and high N addition. However, the northern species were more affected by temperature, while the southern species were more affected by N addition. High temperature depressed the cover of the 'wet' species, S. balticum and S. cuspidatum. Nitrogen concentrations increased with high N addition. N:P and N:K ratios indicated P-limited growth in all treatments and co-limitation of P and K in the high N treatments. In the second year of the experiment, several containers suffered from a severe fungal infection, particularly affecting the 'wet' species and the high N treatment. Our findings suggest that global change can have negative consequences for the production of Sphagnum species in bogs, with important implications for the carbon sequestration in these ecosystems.

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“…Neff et al (2002) reported that global atmospheric N deposition varies from 25 to 40 TgN y −1 and will be doubled in the next 25 years. The input of plant-available N promotes C sequestration of N-limited forest ecosystems by increasing net primary production, and delays, to a certain degree, the increase of atmospheric CO 2 concentration (Mäkipää et al 1999;Turunen et al 2004). However, other studies indicate that N saturation resulting from excessive N input will accelerate the plant mortality, and thus weaken potential C sequestration of forest ecosystems (Nadelhoffer et al 1999;Stevens et al 2004).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

13C abundance, water-soluble and microbial biomass carbon as potential indicators of soil organic carbon dynamics in subtropical forests at different successional stages and subject to different nitrogen loads

Fang

Cheng

et al. 2009

Plant Soil

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Chronic atmospheric nitrogen deposition affects the cycling of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) in forest ecosystems, and thereby alters the stable C isotopic abundance of plant and soil. Three successional stages, disturbed, rehabilitated and mature forests were studied for their responses to different nitrogen input levels. N-addition manipulative experiments were conducted at low, medium and high N levels. To study the responses of C cycling to N addition, the C concentration and 13 C natural abundances for leaf, litter and soil were measured. Labile organic carbon fractions in mineral soils were measured to quantify the dynamics of soil organic C (SOC). Results showed that three-year continuous N addition did not significantly increase foliar C and N concentration, but decreased C/N ratio and enriched 13 C in N-rich forests. In addition, N addition significantly decreased microbial biomass C, and increased water soluble organic C in surface soils of N-rich forests. This study suggests that N addition enhances the water consumption per unit C assimilation of dominant plant species, restricts SOC turnover in N-poor forests at early and medium successional stages (thus favored SOC sequestration), and vice versa for N-rich mature forests.

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Nitrogen deposition and increased carbon accumulation in ombrotrophic peatlands in eastern Canada

Cited by 155 publications

References 68 publications

Long-term macronutrient stoichiometry of UK ombrotrophic peatlands

Long-term macronutrient stoichiometry of UK ombrotrophic peatlands

Response of Sphagnum species mixtures to increased temperature and nitrogen availability

13C abundance, water-soluble and microbial biomass carbon as potential indicators of soil organic carbon dynamics in subtropical forests at different successional stages and subject to different nitrogen loads

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