Phosphorus Fertilization Increases the Abundance and Nitrogenase Activity of the Cyanolichen <i>Pseudocyphellaria crocata</i> in Hawaiian Montane Forests

Benner, Jon W.; Conroy, Shannon M.; Lunch, Claire; Toyoda, Noriko; Vitousek, Peter M.

doi:10.1111/j.1744-7429.2007.00267.x

Cited by 86 publications

(74 citation statements)

References 54 publications

(91 reference statements)

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“…Second, biological activities (e.g., enhanced acidity at weathering surface and plant rooting) accelerate weathering (31) such that the weathering rate of Hawaiian basalts is at least an order of magnitude greater underneath plants than on nonvegetated surfaces (32,33). In turn, substrate weathering enhances plant growth through the release of phosphorus and other elements that can limit plant production (34) and biological nitrogen fixation (22,(35)(36)(37). Third, plant productivity and nitrogen accumulation are mutually dependent.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Amplified temperature dependence in ecosystems developing on the lava flows of Mauna Loa, Hawai'i

Anderson‐Teixeira

Vitousek

Brown

2008

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Through its effect on individual metabolism, temperature drives biologically controlled fluxes and transformations of energy and materials in ecological systems. Because primary succession involves feedbacks among multiple biological and abiotic processes, we expected it to exhibit complex dynamics and unusual temperature dependence. We present a model based on first principles of chemical kinetics to explain how biologically mediated temperature dependence of ''reactant'' concentrations can inflate the effective temperature dependence of such processes. We then apply this model to test the hypothesis that the temperature dependence of early primary succession is amplified due to more rapid accumulation of reactants at higher temperatures. Using previously published data from the lava flows of Mauna Loa, HI, we show that rates of vegetation and soil accumulation as well as rates of community compositional change all display amplified temperature dependence (Q10 values of Ϸ7-50, compared with typical Q10 values of 1.5-3 for the constituent biological processes). Additionally, in young ecosystems, resource concentrations increase with temperature, resulting in inflated temperature responses of biogeochemical fluxes. Mauna Loa's developing ecosystems exemplify how temperature-driven, biologically mediated gradients in resource availability can alter the effective temperature dependence of ecological processes. This mechanistic theory should contribute to understanding the complex effects of temperature on the structure and dynamics of ecological systems in a world where regional and global temperatures are changing rapidly.ecosystem development ͉ metabolic theory of ecology ͉ primary succession ͉ Q 10 ͉ elevation B iological metabolism-the uptake, transformation, and allocation of energy and materials by living things-shapes ecological phenomena (1). The metabolic theory of ecology has identified body size and temperature as critical variables driving metabolic rates and, thereby, ecological processes such as photosynthesis, respiration, population growth, and secondary succession (1-3). Through such processes, biological metabolism largely controls global cycles of carbon and nitrogen.Primary succession-the development of ecosystems on new substrates such as lava flows, sand dunes, or land exposed by receding glaciers-is a complex process involving the accumulation of carbon and nutrients in biomass and soil and the concurrent assembly of a diverse biotic community (4, 5). It is driven by multiple interacting processes, including substrate weathering, primary production, soil formation, and colonization and subsequent turnover of plant, animal, fungal, and microbial species. Most of these processes are mediated by organisms whose biological function exhibits clear temperature dependence (1). It is known that temperature affects the rate of primary succession (4, 6-9). Not well understood, however, is how the multiple ecological processes interact to affect the overall rate of ecosystem development and to determine...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Amplified temperature dependence in ecosystems developing on the lava flows of Mauna Loa, Hawai'i

Anderson‐Teixeira

Vitousek

Brown

2008

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…Free-living fixers experience different environmental conditions in decomposing organic matter, bryophyte mats, and the canopy environment, and competition for light and dispersal limitations may be less of a factor than observed for symbiotic fixation during succession. More diffusely, however, Benner et al (2007) showed that application of P fertilizers to a Hawaiian Oxisol caused cyanolichen blooms in the canopy, thus pointing to indirect connections between soil nutrient pools, nutrient limitation, and free-living fixation rates in forests.…”

Section: Timementioning

confidence: 99%

A new synthesis for terrestrial nitrogen inputs

Houlton

Morford

2015

SOIL

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Abstract. Nitrogen (N) inputs sustain many different aspects of local soil processes, their services, and their interactions with the broader Earth system. We present a new synthesis for terrestrial N inputs that explicitly considers both rock and atmospheric sources of N. We review evidence for state-factor regulation over biological fixation, deposition, and rock-weathering inputs from local to global scales and in transient vs. steady-state landscapes. Our investigation highlights strong organism and topographic (relief) controls over all three N input pathways, with the anthropogenic factor clearly important in rising N deposition rates. In addition, the climate, parent material, and time factors are shown to influence patterns of fixation and rock-weathering inputs of N in diverse soil systems. Data reanalysis suggests that weathering of N-rich parent material could resolve several known cases of "missing N inputs" in ecosystems, and demonstrates how the inclusion of rock N sources into modern concepts can lead to a richer understanding of spatial and temporal patterns of ecosystem N availability. For example, explicit consideration of rock N inputs into classic pedogenic models (e.g., the Walker and Syers model) yields a fundamentally different expectation from the standard case: weathering of N-rich parent material could enhance N availability and facilitate terrestrial succession in developmentally young sites even in the absence of N-fixing organisms. We conclude that a state-factor framework for N complements our growing understanding multiple-source controls on phosphorus and cation availability in Earth's soil, but with significant exceptions given the lack of an N fixation analogue in all other biogeochemical cycles. Rather, non-symmetrical feedbacks among input pathways in which high N inputs via deposition or rock-weathering sources have the potential to reduce biological fixation rates mark N as fundamentally different from other nutrients. The new synthesis for terrestrial N inputs provides a novel set of research issues and opportunities in the multidisciplinary Earth system sciences, with implications for patterns of N limitation, tectonic controls over biogeochemical cycling, and carbon-nutrient-climate interactions.

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“…For example, Herbert and Fownes' (1995) fertilizer experiment in the Hawaiian chronosequence demonstrated that P rather than N limits tree productivity during retrogression. Similarly, bryophyte N fixation is greatly enhanced by the addition of P only in the late stage of the Hawaiian chronosequence (Benner et al 2007). In addition, there is evidence from contrasting chronosequences worldwide for increasing N to P ratios of both litter and humus during retrogression (Wardle et al 2004; see also Ostertag 2010).…”

Section: Long-term Sources and Sinks Of Nutrientsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding ecosystem retrogression

Peltzer

Wardle

Allison

et al. 2010

Ecological Monographs

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353

337

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Abstract. Over time scales of thousands to millions of years, and in the absence of rejuvenating disturbances that initiate primary or early secondary succession, ecosystem properties such as net primary productivity, decomposition, and rates of nutrient cycling undergo substantial declines termed ecosystem retrogression. Retrogression results from the depletion or reduction in the availability of nutrients, and can only be reversed through rejuvenating disturbance that resets the system; this differs from age-related declines in forest productivity that are driven by shorter-term depression of nutrient availability and plant ecophysiological process rates that occur during succession. Here we review and synthesize the findings from studies of long-term chronosequences that include retrogressive stages for systems spanning the boreal, temperate, and subtropical zones. Ecosystem retrogression has been described by ecologists, biogeochemists, geologists, and pedologists, each of which has developed somewhat independent conceptual frameworks; our review seeks to unify this literature in order to better understand the causes and consequences of retrogression. Studies of retrogression have improved our knowledge of how long-term pedogenic changes drive shorter-term biological processes, as well as the consequences of these changes for ecosystem development. Our synthesis also reveals that similar patterns of retrogression (involving reduced soil fertility, predictable shifts in organismic traits, and ecological processes) occur in systems with vastly different climatic regimes, geologic substrates, and vegetation types, even though the timescales and mechanisms driving retrogression may vary greatly among sites. Studies on retrogression also provide evidence that in many regions, high biomass or "climax" forests are often transient, and do not persist indefinitely in the absence of rejuvenating disturbance. Finally, our review highlights that studies on retrogressive chronosequences in contrasting regions provide unparalleled opportunities for developing general principles about the long-term feedbacks between biological communities and pedogenic processes, and how these control ecosystem development.

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Phosphorus Fertilization Increases the Abundance and Nitrogenase Activity of the Cyanolichen Pseudocyphellaria crocata in Hawaiian Montane Forests

Cited by 86 publications

References 54 publications

Amplified temperature dependence in ecosystems developing on the lava flows of Mauna Loa, Hawai'i

Amplified temperature dependence in ecosystems developing on the lava flows of Mauna Loa, Hawai'i

A new synthesis for terrestrial nitrogen inputs

Understanding ecosystem retrogression

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