Tree water uptake enhances nitrogen acquisition in a fertilized boreal forest – but not under nitrogen‐poor conditions

Henriksson, Nils; Lim, Hyungwoo; Marshall, John D.; Franklin, Oskar; McMurtrie, Ross E.; Lutter, Reimo; Magh, Ruth-Kristina; Lundmark, Tomas; Näsholm, Torgny

doi:10.1111/nph.17578

Cited by 19 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…First, our NPK treatment resulted in increased mineral N fluxes and soil N stock, validating the efficacy of the treatments on soil N availability. Second, roots of pine trees can take up 90% of soil nutrients within a 3 m distance and the uptake distance becomes even shorter when nutrients are added 33 , 34 . So the trees in the center of the plots must have been responsive.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…the bulk movement of water in the soil, which can greatly increase trees’ ability to compete with microbes for acquisition of soil N 49 . For example, in a nutrient-poor boreal forest where water was not limiting, N uptake increased with trees’ water uptake and transpiration under fertilized conditions 33 . Moreover, interactions between water availability and N fertilization have been reported across temperate and boreal regions, showing that tree growth did not respond to fertilization under conditions of soil water deficit 50 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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No impact of nitrogen fertilization on carbon sequestration in a temperate Pinus densiflora forest

Baek

Lim

Noh

et al. 2023

Sci Rep

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Carbon (C) sequestration capacity in forest ecosystems is generally constrained by soil nitrogen (N) availability. Consequently, N fertilization is seen as a promising tool for enhancing ecosystem-level C sequestration in N-limited forests. We examined the responses of ecosystem C (vegetation and soil) and soil N dynamics to 3 years of annual nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium (N3P4K1 = 11.3 g N, 15.0 g P, 3.7 g K m−2 year−1) or PK fertilization (P4K1), observed over 4 years in a 40-year-old Pinus densiflora forest with poor N nutrition in South Korea. PK fertilization without N was performed to test for PK limitation other than N. Neither tree growth nor soil C fluxes responded to annual NPK or PK fertilization despite an increase in soil mineral N fluxes following NPK fertilization. NPK fertilization increased the rate of N immobilization and 80% of the added N was recovered from mineral soil in the 0–5 cm layer, suggesting that relatively little of the added N was available to trees. These results indicate that N fertilization does not always enhance C sequestration even in forests with poor N nutrition and should therefore be applied with caution.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

No impact of nitrogen fertilization on carbon sequestration in a temperate Pinus densiflora forest

Baek

Lim

Noh

et al. 2023

Sci Rep

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“…Root responses include a shift in water uptake from shallow (already dry) to deeper (wetter) soil layers within the rooting zone, and impaired uptake of mobile nutrients, such as nitrogen, in dry layers (Henriksson et al . 2021). Consequently, water uptake from deeper and wetter soil layers under drought will likely be a compromise between: (i) current demand for nutrients and changes over the growing period, (ii) vertical nutrient profile, (iii) type of nutrient (mobile or immobile), (iv) drought severity, timing and duration, and (v) species‐specific water use adaptations and abilities to extract water from dry soils (hydraulic resistance, stomatal control, hydraulic redistribution).…”

Section: Trade‐offs and Conflicting Demands – Plant Water Uptake Is T...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…2021), so that water from some sources would reach plant stems faster than from other sources (Henriksson et al . 2021). A solution would be to ‘distort’ the Bayesian search domain in both space and time to account for the diversity of water velocities along the soil–plant continuum.…”

Section: Ways Forward Towards Integrative Interdisciplinary Modelling...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Plant water uptake modelling: added value of cross‐disciplinary approaches

et al. 2022

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In recent years, research interest in plant water uptake strategies has rapidly increased in many disciplines, such as hydrology, plant ecology and ecophysiology. Quantitative modelling approaches to estimate plant water uptake and spatiotemporal dynamics have significantly advanced through different disciplines across scales. Despite this progress, major limitations, for example, predicting plant water uptake under drought or drought impact at large scales, remain. These are less attributed to limitations in process understanding, but rather to a lack of implementation of cross-disciplinary insights into plant water uptake model structure. The main goal of this review is to highlight how the four dominant model approaches, that is, Feddes approach, hydrodynamic approach, optimality and statistical approaches, can be and have been used to create interdisciplinary hybrid models enabling a holistic system understanding that, among other things, embeds plant water uptake plasticity into a broader conceptual view of soil-plant feedbacks of water, nutrient and carbon cycling, or reflects observed drought responses of plant-soil feedbacks and their dynamics under, that is, drought. Specifically, we provide examples of how integration of Bayesian and hydrodynamic approaches might overcome challenges in interpreting plant water uptake related to different travel and residence times of different plant water sources or trade-offs between root system optimization to forage for water and nutrients during different seasons and phenological stages.

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“…For example, nitrate, an extremely mobile anion in the soil matrix, can effectively be delivered to the root surface via transpiration-driven mass flow ( Oyewole et al. 2014 , McMurtrie and Näsholm 2018 , Henriksson et al. 2021 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Organic nitrogen enhances nitrogen nutrition and early growth ofPinus sylvestrisseedlings

et al. 2021

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Boreal trees are capable of taking up organic nitrogen (N) as effectively as inorganic N. Depending on the abundance of soil N forms, plants may adjust physiological and morphological traits to optimize N uptake. However, the link between these traits and N uptake in response to soil N sources is poorly understood. We examined Pinus sylvestris seedlings’ biomass growth and allocation, transpiration, and N uptake in response to additions of organic (the amino acid arginine) or inorganic N (ammonium-nitrate). We also monitored in-situ soil N fluxes in the pots following an addition of N, using a microdialysis system. Supplying organic N resulted in a stable soil N flux, whereas the inorganic N resulted in a sharp increase of nitrate flux followed by a rapid decline, demonstrating a fluctuating N supply and a risk for loss of nitrate from the growth medium. Seedlings supplied with organic N achieved a greater biomass with a higher N content, thus reaching a higher N recovery compared with those supplied inorganic N. In spite of a higher N concentration in organic N seedlings, root-to-shoot ratio and transpiration per unit leaf area were similar to those of inorganic N seedlings. We conclude that enhanced seedlings’ nutrition and growth under the organic N source may be attributed to a stable supply of N, owing to a strong retention rate in the soil medium.

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Tree water uptake enhances nitrogen acquisition in a fertilized boreal forest – but not under nitrogen‐poor conditions

Cited by 19 publications

References 37 publications

No impact of nitrogen fertilization on carbon sequestration in a temperate Pinus densiflora forest

No impact of nitrogen fertilization on carbon sequestration in a temperate Pinus densiflora forest

Plant water uptake modelling: added value of cross‐disciplinary approaches

Organic nitrogen enhances nitrogen nutrition and early growth ofPinus sylvestrisseedlings

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