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Chen, Yao-Te ; Borken, Werner ; Stange, Claus Florian ; Matzner, Egbert:
Effects of decreasing water potential on gross ammonification and nitrification in an acid coniferous forest soil.
In: Soil Biology & Biochemistry.
Bd. 43
(2011)
Heft 2
.
- S. 333-338.
ISSN 0038-0717
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2010.10.020
Abstract
Changes in the soil water regime, predicted as a consequence of global climate change, might influence the N cycle in temperate forest soils. We investigated the effect of decreasing soil water potentials on gross ammonification and nitrification in different soil horizons of a Norway spruce forest and tested the hypotheses that i) gross rates are more sensitive to desiccation in the Oa and EA horizon as compared to the uppermost Oi/Oe horizon and ii) that gross nitrification is more sensitive than gross ammonification. Soil samples were adjusted by air drying to water potentials from about field capacity to around −1.0 MPa, a range that is often observed under field conditions at our site. Gross rates were measured using the 15N pool dilution technique. To ensure that the addition of solute label to dry soils and the local rewetting does not affect the results by re-mineralization or preferential consumption of 15N, we compared different extraction and incubation times.T0 times ranging from 10 to 300 min and incubation times of 48 h and 72 h did not influence the rates of gross ammonification and nitrification. Even small changes of water potential decreased gross ammonification and nitrification in the O horizon. In the EA horizon, gross nitrification was below detection limit and the response of the generally low rates of gross ammonification to decreasing water potentials was minor. In the Oi/Oe horizon gross ammonification and nitrification decreased from 37.5 to 18.3 mg N kg−1 soil d−1 and from 15.4 to 5.6 mg N kg−1 soil d−1 when the water potential decreased from field capacity to −0.8 MPa. In the Oa horizon gross ammonification decreased from 7.4 to 4.0 mg N kg−1 soil d−1 when the water potential reached −0.6 MPa. At such water potential nitrification almost ceased, while in the Oi/Oe horizon nitrification continued at a rather high level. Hence, only in the Oa horizon nitrification was more sensitive to desiccation than ammonification. Extended drought periods that might result from climate change will cause a reduction in gross N turnover rates in forest soils even at moderate levels of soil desiccation.