Soil Inorganic N Leaching in Edges of Different Forest Types Subject to High N Deposition Loads

• Published in: Ecosystems (New York) Vol. 14; no. 5; pp. 818 - 834
• Main Authors: Wuyts, Karen, De Schrijver, An, Staelens, Jeroen, Van Nevel, Lotte, Adriaenssens, Sandy, Verheyen, Kris
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer Science+Business Media 01.08.2011; Springer-Verlag; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Animal and plant ecology; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; atmospheric deposition; Biogeochemistry; Biological and medical sciences; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Cations; Coniferous forests; Deciduous forests; Deciduous trees; dissolved inorganic nitrogen; Ecology; Edge effects; Environmental Management; Forest ecosystems; Forest soils; Forest stands; Forestry; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General aspects; General forest ecology; Generalities. Production, biomass. Quality of wood and forest products. General forest ecology; Geoecology/Natural Processes; Hydrology/Water Resources; Leaching; Life Sciences; Microclimate; Mineral soils; Nitrogen; plant litter; Plant Sciences; Sedimentation & deposition; Soil depth; Soils; Synecology; Terrestrial ecosystems; Throughfall; Topsoil; trees; Zoology; atmospheric deposition; C:N ratio; edge effects; forest type; nitrate leaching; forest edge; inorganic nitrogen; Load; Forests; Forest edge; Nitrates; Atmospheric deposition; Leaching; Carbon nitrogen ratio; Soils; Inorganic nitrogen; Edge effect; Ecosystem
• ISSN: 1432-9840; 1435-0629
• DOI: 10.1007/s10021-011-9448-4

We report on soil leaching of dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) along transects across exposed edges of four coniferous and four deciduous forest stands. In a 64-m edge zone, DIN leaching below the main rooting zone was enhanced relative to the interior (at 128 m from the edge) by 21 and 14 kg N ha⁻¹ y⁻¹ in the coniferous and deciduous forest stands, respectively. However, the patterns of DIN leaching did not univocally reflect those of DIN throughfall deposition. DIN leaching in the first 20 m of the edges was lower than at 32-64 m from the edge (17 vs. 36 kg N ha⁻¹ y⁻¹ and 15 vs. 24 kg N ha⁻¹ y⁻¹ in the coniferous and deciduous forests, respectively). Nitrogen stocks in the mineral topsoil (0-30 cm) were, on average, 943 kg N ha⁻¹ higher at the outer edges than in the interior, indicating that N retention in the soil is probably one of the processes involved in the relatively low DIN leaching in the outer edges. We suggest that a complex of edge effects on biogeochemical processes occurs at the forest edges as a result of the interaction between microclimate, tree dynamics (growth and litterfall), and atmospheric deposition of N and base cations.