Nitrogen stocks in a riparian area invaded by N-fixing black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia L.) |
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Authors: | Fumikazu Akamatsu Koichi Ide Koji Shimano Hideshige Toda |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science, Shinshu University, 3-1-1 Asahi, Matsumoto Nagano, 390-8621, Japan;(2) Present address: Water Environment Research Group, Public Works Research Institute, 1-6 Minamihara, Tsukuba Ibaraki, 305-8516, Japan |
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Abstract: | Fixation of river flow passages and riverbed degradation may facilitate the development of higher floodplains with the establishment
of exotic species such as black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia L.). We quantitatively evaluated the relationship between nitrogen (N) levels in black locust trees and in sediments under
different flood disturbance regimes in a riparian area of the Chikuma River. In this study, allometric equations were developed
for relating leaf N content to diameter at breast height of black locust. The amount of leaf N in black locust increased with
distance from the river, reaching 159 kg N ha−1 at 180 m from the river. There was a small difference in N content between green and fallen leaves (0.2%), and so the leaf
N was almost equivalent to N input to riparian sediments. Fine sediments accumulated on the riparian area, where the amount
of sediments N increased with distance from the river, ranging from 1091 ± 767 to 4953 ± 2953 kg N ha−1. The N accumulation rates also increased with distance from the river, corresponding with the amount of leaf N in black locust
per unit area, but the former exceeded the latter. The sediment N accumulation might be accelerated by sediment trapping effect
due to riparian vegetation itself. A large input of N provided by invaded black locust might alter nutrient dynamics and native
plant community structure in the riparian area. |
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