Gopher mounds decrease nutrient cycling rates and increase adjacent vegetation in volcanic primary succession

Fossorial mammals may affect nutrient dynamics and vegetation in recently initiated primary successional ecosystems differently than in more developed systems because of strong C and N limitation to primary productivity and microbial communities. We investigated northern pocket gopher (Thomomys talpoides) effects on soil nutrient dynamics, soil physical properties, and plant communities on surfaces created by Mount St. Helens’ 1980 eruption. For comparison to later successional systems, we summarized published studies on gopher effects on soil C and N and plant communities. In 2010, 18 years after gopher colonization, we found that gophers were active in ~2.5 % of the study area and formed ~328 mounds ha^?1. Mounds exhibited decreased species density compared to undisturbed areas, while plant abundance on mound margins increased 77 %. Plant burial increased total soil carbon (TC) by 13 % and nitrogen (TN) by 11 %, compared to undisturbed soils. Mound crusts decreased water infiltration, likely explaining the lack of detectable increases in rates of NO₃–N, NH₄–N or PO₄–P leaching out of the rooting zone or in CO₂ flux rates. We concluded that plant burial and reduced infiltration on gopher mounds may accelerate soil carbon accumulation, facilitate vegetation development at mound edges through resource concentration and competitive release, and increase small-scale heterogeneity of soils and communities across substantial sections of the primary successional landscape. Our review indicated that increases in TC, TN and plant density at mound margins contrasted with later successional systems, likely due to differences in physical effects and microbial resources between primary successional and older systems.     

Bryophytes and nutrient cycling

Direct information on nutrient cycling through bryophytes is limited and often incomplete. Evidence bearing on the sources and pathways by which nutrient elements are acquired (e.g. aerial deposition, throughfall and substratum) and lost (e.g. leaching and decomposition) is critically discussed. The need to distinguish between the extracellular and intracellular location of elements is emphasized. The involvement of microorganisms and the problems of accurately measuring decomposition are considered. A summary is given of recent laboratory work on the internal redistribution of elements in Rhytidiadelphus squarrosus and of field experiments involving fertilizer addition to Pseudoscleropodium purum; their significance is assessed.     

Creating riverine wetlands: Ecological succession, nutrient retention, and pulsing effects

Successional patterns, water quality changes, and effects of hydrologic pulsing are documented for a whole-ecosystem experiment involving two created wetlands that have been subjected to continuous inflow of pumped river water for more than 10 years. At the beginning of the growing season in the first year of the experiment (1994), 2400 individuals representing 13 macrophyte species were introduced to one of the wetland basins. The other basin was an unplanted control. Patterns of succession are illustrated by macrophyte community diversity and net aboveground primary productivity, soil development, water quality changes, and nutrient retention for the two basins. The planted wetland continued to be more diverse in plant cover 10 years after planting and the unplanted wetland appeared to be more productive but more susceptible to stress. Soil color and organic content continued to change after wetland creation and wetlands had robust features of hydric soils within a few years of flooding. Organic matter content in surface soils in the wetlands increased by approximately 1% per 3-year period. Plant diversity and species differences led to some differences in the basins in macrophyte productivity, carbon sequestration, water quality changes and nutrient retention. The wetlands continued to retain nitrate–nitrogen and soluble reactive phosphorus 10 years after their creation. There are some signs that sediment and total phosphorus retention are diminishing after 10 years of river flow. Preliminary results from the beginnings of a flood pulsing experiment in the two basins in 2003–2004 are described for water quality, nutrient retention, aboveground productivity, and methane and nitrous oxide gaseous fluxes.     

Hierarchy,spatial configuration,and nutrient cycling in a desert stream

Abstract Recent studies of nutrient cycling in Sycamore Creek in Arizona, USA, suggest that a thorough understanding requires a spatially explicit, hierarchical approach. Physical configuration determines the path that water follows as it moves downstream. Water follows flowpaths through surface stream components, the hyporheic zone beneath the surface stream, and the parafluvial (sand bar) zone. Characteristic biogeochemical processes in these subsystems alter nitrogen (N) species in transport, in part as a function of available concentrations of N species. At several hierarchical levels, substrate materials are an important determinant of nitrogen dynamics in desert streams. Sand is present in bars of variable size and shape, each of which can be considered a unit, interacting with the surface stream. Groups of these stream-sandbar units form a higher level, the reach. At the next higher scale, sandy reaches (runs) alternate with riffles. Where flowpaths converge, rates of N transformation are high and, as a result, change in concentration is a non-linear function of flowpath length. Disturbance by flash floods alters sandbar configuration. Between floods, the interaction of subsurface and surface flowpaths shapes configuration in each, thus a self-organizing element of spatial structure exists. Sandy runs are dominated by subsurface processes and are likely to be net nitrifiers while riffles are dominated by surface flow and are nitrogen fixers. Whether a stream ecosystem retains nitrogen, or transports it to downstream recipient systems, or is a net emitter of gaseous forms of N, depends upon the dynamics of a spatial mosaic of interacting elements. An understanding of the net effect of this mosaic requires a spatially explicit, hierarchical, multi-scale approach.     

Plant community dynamics, nutrient cycling, and alternative stable equilibria in peatlands

Although observational data and experiments suggest that carbon flux and storage in peatlands are controlled by hydrology and/or nutrient availability, we lack a rigorous theory to account for the roles that different plant species or life-forms, particularly mosses, play in carbon and nutrient flux and storage and how they interact with different hydrologic sources of nutrients. We construct and analyze a model of peatlands that sheds some light on this problem. The model is a set of six coupled differential equations that define the flow of nutrients from moss and vascular plants to their litters, then to peat, and finally to an inorganic nutrient resource pool. We first analyze a simple version of this model (model 1) in which all nutrient input is from precipitation and enters the moss compartment directly, mimicking the dynamics of ombrotrophic bogs. There is a transcritical bifurcation that results in a switch of stability between two equilibrium bog communities: a moss monoculture and a community where mosses and vascular plants coexist. The bifurcation depends on the magnitudes of the input/output budget of the peatland and the life-history traits of the plants. We generalize model 1 to model 2 by dividing nutrient inputs between precipitation and groundwater, thus also allowing the development of minerotrophic fens that receive nutrient subsidies from both groundwater and precipitation and adding intraspecific competition (self-limitation) terms for both moss and vascular plants. Partitioning precipitation inputs between moss and the nutrient pool resulted in the greatest changes in model behavior, including the appearance of a lake and a vascular plant monoculture as well as the moss monoculture and coexistence equilibrium. As with model 1, these solutions are separated by transcritical bifurcations depending on critical combinations of parameters determining the input-output budget of the peatland as well as the life-history characteristics of the plant species. Model 2 also allowed for an early transient spike in vascular plant dominance followed by approach to near moss monoculture and then eventual approach to coexistence equilibrium. This generalized model mimics the broad features of successional development of peatlands from fens to bogs often found in the paleorecords of peat cores.     

Modelling food webs and nutrient cycling in agro-ecosystems

Agricultural practices affect the spatial patterns and dynamics of the decomposition of soil organic matter and the availability of plant-limiting nutrients. The biological processes underlying these patterns and dynamics are the trophic interactions among the organisms in the soil community food web. Food web models simulate nutrient flow rates close to observed rates and clarify the role of the various groups of organisms in the cycling of nutrients. Several large interdisciplinary programs are currently focusing on these interactions, with a view to developing and managing sustainable forms of agriculture.     

Stoichiometric relationships among producers,consumers and nutrient cycling in pelagic ecosystems

Most ecosystem models consolidate members of food-webs, e.g. species, into a small number of functional components. Each of these is then described by a single state variable such as biomass. When a multivariate approach incorporating multiple substances within components is substituted for this univariate one, a stoichiometric model is formed. Here we show that the Nitrogen:Phosphorus ratio within zooplankton herbivores varies substantially intraspecifically but not intraspecifically. By using stoichiometric theory and recent measurements of the N:P ratio within different zooplankton taxa, we calculate large differences in ratios of nutrients recycled by different zooplankton species. Finally, we demonstrate that N:P stoichiometry can successfully account for shifts in N- and P-limitation previously observed in whole-lake experiments. Species stoichiometry merges food-web dynamics with biogeochemical cycles to yield new insights.Abbreviations b N:P in zooplankton biomass - f N:P in algal biomass - L maximum accumulation eficiency - N:P ratio of nitrogen to phosphorus (moles:moles) - s N:P supply ratio from grazers - TN Total nitrogen = seston N + dissolved N (µmoles/liter) - TP Total phosphorus = seston P + dissolved P (µmoles/liter)     

Delays in nutrient cycling and plant population oscillations

It is well known that delay-differential and delay-difference equations can produce plausible simulations of population oscillations, but many of these equations lack a specific mechanism responsible for the delay. We suggest that delays in release of nitrogen from decomposing litter, caused by microbial uptake, could produce oscillations in populations when the delay in the release of nitrogen is longer than the characteristic time scale of nitrogen uptake. We present a model which captures these dynamics. As the parameter controlling microbial uptake of nitrogen during litter decay increases, the model solutions bifurcate from fixed point equilibria, to periodic orbits (oscillations) which remain bounded for ecologically very long times, and finally to extinction of the plant population because of rapid increases in the amplitude of the oscillations. We suggest that such a mechanism may be especially important for annual plants which do not store nitrogen in perennial tissues to buffer delays. Natural populations of wild rice ( Zizania palustris ), an annual plant, oscillate with approximately four-year periods. Our model qualitatively mimics the period and shape of population oscillations in wild rice with parameter values in the range of those determined by experiments. The model therefore demonstrates a logical and experimentally plausible link between plant population dynamics and the ecosystem processes delaying the cycling of limiting nutrients.     

Alteration of forest succession and carbon cycling under elevated CO2

Regenerating forests influence the global carbon (C) cycle, and understanding how climate change will affect patterns of regeneration and C storage is necessary to predict the rate of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) increase in future decades. While experimental elevation of CO₂ has revealed that young forests respond with increased productivity, there remains considerable uncertainty as to how the long‐term dynamics of forest regrowth are shaped by elevated CO₂ (eCO₂). Here, we use the mechanistic size‐ and age‐ structured Ecosystem Demography model to investigate the effects of CO₂ enrichment on forest regeneration, using data from the Duke Forest Free‐Air Carbon dioxide Enrichment (FACE) experiment, a forest chronosequence, and an eddy‐covariance tower for model parameterization and evaluation. We find that the dynamics of forest regeneration are accelerated, and stands consistently hit a variety of developmental benchmarks earlier under eCO₂. Because responses to eCO₂ varied by plant functional type, successional pathways, and mature forest composition differed under eCO₂, with mid‐ and late‐successional hardwood functional types experiencing greater increases in biomass compared to early‐successional functional types and the pine canopy. Over the simulation period, eCO₂ led to an increase in total ecosystem C storage of 9.7 Mg C ha^‐1. Model predictions of mature forest biomass and ecosystem–atmosphere exchange of CO₂ and H₂O were sensitive to assumptions about nitrogen limitation; both the magnitude and persistence of the ecosystem response to eCO₂ were reduced under N limitation. In summary, our simulations demonstrate that eCO₂ can result in a general acceleration of forest regeneration while altering the course of successional change and having a lasting impact on forest ecosystems.     

Moose herbivory,browse quality,and nutrient cycling in an Alaskan treeline community

Moose (Alces alces) browsing on diamondleaf willow (Salix planifolia pulchra) caused significant increases in subsequent growth of stems and leaves in treeline plant communities in central Alaska, USA. Willows growing in the shade were significantly more palatable for moose than those growing in the sun. Moose density had strong effects on rates of nutrient cycling, ostensibly through effects of browsing and inputs from fecal and urinary nitrogen. Moose are a keystone herbivore that likely mediate rates of nutrient cycling in northern ecosystems.     

Effects of plant species on nutrient cycling

Plant species create positive feedbacks to patterns of nutrient cycling in natural ecosystems. For example, in nutrient-poor ecosystems, plants grow slowly, use nutrients efficiently and produce poor-quality litter that decomposes slowly and deters herbivores. /n contrast, plant species from nutrient-rich ecosystems grow rapidly, produce readily degradable litter and sustain high rates of herbivory, further enhancing rates of nutrient cycling. Plants may also create positive feedbacks to nutrient cycling because of species' differences in carbon deposition and competition with microbes for nutrients in the rhizosphere. New research is showing that species' effects can be as or more important than abiotic factors, such as climate, in controlling ecosystem fertility.     

Ecosystem metabolism and nutrient uptake in an urban,piped headwater stream

Piped streams, or streams that run underground, are often associated with urbanization. Despite the fact that they are ubiquitous in many urban watersheds, there is little empirical evidence regarding the ecological structure and function of piped stream reaches. This study measured ecosystem metabolism, nutrient uptake, and related characteristics of Pettee Brook—an urban stream that flows through several piped sections in Durham, New Hampshire, USA. Pettee Brook had high chloride and nutrient concentrations, low benthic biomass, and low rates of gross primary productivity (GPP), ecosystem respiration (ER), and nutrient uptake along its entire length during summer. Spring was a period of elevated biological activity, as increased light availability in the un-piped sections of the stream led to substantially higher GPP, ER, NH₄ uptake, and PO₄ uptake in these open reaches. Piped reaches of Pettee Brook were similar to open reaches in terms of water quality, dissolved O₂ concentration, temperature, and discharge. Piped reaches did, however, have significantly less light, shallower sediments, and no debris dams. The absence of light inhibited autotrophic activity in piped reaches, resulting in the complete loss of GPP as well as a significant reduction in benthic AFDM and chlorophyll a biomass. Heterotrophic activity in piped reaches was not impaired to the same extent as autotrophic activity. Reduced ER was observed in piped reaches during the summer, but we failed to find significantly lower DOC or nutrient uptake rates in piped reaches than in open reaches. Carbon consumption in piped reaches, which do not have significant autochthonous or allochthonous carbon replenishment, must rely primarily on upstream inputs of organic matter. These results suggest that although ecological conditions in piped streams may be degraded beyond the extent of other urban stream reaches, piped reaches may still sustain some measurable ecosystem function.     

Parasitic plants—impacts on nutrient cycling

Whilst it is widely accepted that different plant species influence ecosystem processes such as nutrient cycling, we are still far from understanding and predicting the effects of changes in vegetation composition on biogeochemical cycles. Ameloot E, Verlinden G, Boeckx P, Verheyen K, Hermy M. Impact of hemiparasitic Rhinanthus angustifolius and Rhinanthus minor on nitrogen availability in grassland (this issue) examine, for the first time, the impact of root hemiparasitic plants on in-situ nitrogen dynamics in intact field vegetation, using ¹⁵N techniques. This represents an important step forward in elucidating the unusual roles of parasitic plants in ecosystem function, and builds on a small set of recent studies indicating that parasitic plants have the potential to substantially alter the quantity and quality of resources returned to the soil by the plant community. These results reinforce the need to include parasitic plants in community and ecosystem theory, and emphasise that understanding the roles of parasitic plants in ecosystems is relevant for understanding ecosystem dynamics in a changing world.     

高寒草甸生态系统磷素循环

试验在中国科学院海北高寒草甸生态系统定位站进行了实验样地设置在冬春草场上,应用分室模型,将高寒草甸生态系统分为大气,土壤,植物,食草动物４个分室,主要讨论了磷素在各分室内的贮量,流动方向,流通数量及其系统磷素的供需状况,高寒草旬生态系统磷素的循环过程中,大气分室通过降水输入土壤磷量为０．３６ｋｇ／ｈｍ＾２．ａ植物从土壤库摄取速效磷７．０６ｋｇ／ｈｍ＾２．ａ这些磷素一部分（０．５７ｋｇ／ｈｍ＾２．ａ     

橡胶人工林养分循环通量及特征

对不同树龄的PR107无性系橡胶人工林N、P、K 3种元素的养分循环通量及特征进行了研究.结果表明:(1)橡胶林生态系统养分循环通量中养分总吸收量为315.28～949.13 kg/hm2,总存留量为282.78～714.51 kg/hm2,总归还量为32.50～205.74 kg/hm2,胶乳总损失量为10.18～37.73 kg/hm2,土壤中养分总输入量为111.73～652.79 kg/hm2,总输出量为315.28～949.13 kg/hm2,平均亏损量为-249.94 kg/hm2,各循环通量都随着树龄的增加而增大,其中3种养分元素的大小顺序均为N>K>P;(2)胶林生态系统养分循环特征参数中吸收系数随林分生长呈凸抛物线变化(先增大后减小),归还系数逐渐上升,存留系数不断下降,周转时间加快,而6a后,胶林的枯落物养分平衡指数与土壤养分平衡指数开始下降,胶园土壤养分收支失衡,另外,产胶对养分的利用效率在14a前后表现为先升高后降低;(3)不同元素循环特征参数有差异.吸收系数、归还系数中的大小顺序为N>P>K,存留系数为K>P>N,枯落物养分平衡指数为K>N>P,土壤养分平衡指数为P>N>K,养分利用率为P>K>N,表明N的流动性大,故循环速率最快,循环水平最高,其次是K,而P的循环速率最慢,水平最低.     

草基-鱼塘生态系统的能量转化与养分循环研究

应用模拟试验的方法,研究了“草基-鱼塘”系统中的能量转化与养分循环.结果表明,该系统中饲草对太阳能的利用率为0.83%,鱼对饲料能的转化率为7.3%.与以粮食作为鱼饲料比较,单位面积草地的产鱼当量是粮食作物的1.6倍.鱼对饲料N、P、K的转化率分别为16.8%、32.3%和2.0%.塘泥沉积的N、P分别占饲料的23.4%和56.1%;猪对饲料N、P、K的转化率分别为20.5%、33.7%和4.6%,猪粪尿回收饲料N为36.4%、P为63.8%、K为39.4%.猪-草-鱼结合的基塘系统其能量和养分转化效率均高于单一的养鱼系统.     

Winter climate change,plant traits and nutrient and carbon cycling in cold biomes

It is essential that scientists be able to predict how strong climate warming, including profound changes to winter climate, will affect the ecosystem services of alpine, arctic and boreal areas, and how these services are driven by vegetation–soil feedbacks. One fruitful avenue for studying such changing feedbacks is through plant functional traits, as an understanding of these traits may help us to understand and synthesise (1) responses of vegetation (through ‘response traits’ and ‘specific response functions’ of each species) to winter climate and (2) the effects of changing vegetation composition (through ‘effect traits’ and ‘specific effect functions’ of each species) on soil functions. It is the relative correspondence of variation in response and effect traits that will provide useful data on the impacts of winter climate change on carbon and nutrient cycling processes. Here we discuss several examples of how the trait-based, response–effect framework can help scientists to better understand the effects of winter warming on key ecosystem functions in cold biomes. These examples support the view that measuring species for their response and effect traits, and how these traits are linked across species through correspondence of variation in specific response and effects functions, may be a useful approach for teasing out the contribution of changing vegetation composition to winter warming effects on ecosystem functions. This approach will be particularly useful when linked with ecosystem-level measurements of vegetation and process responses to winter warming along natural gradients, over medium time scales in given sites or in response to experimental climate manipulations.     

Bioproductivity and nutrient cycling in bamboo and acacia plantation forests

This study mainly aimed to investigate the bioproductivity and nutrient cycling processes in plantation forests of bamboo and acacia. In India, multipurpose tree (MPT) species are extensively planted to meet the increasing demand for fuel and industrial wood. The bioproductivity studies of bamboo showed that the total biomass increased with age (2.2 t/ha/year 1) up to six years (297.8 t/ha/year 6) and then decreased (15.6 t/ha/year 10). With acacia, the total biomass increased from 1.8 t/ha/(year 1) to 5.0 t/ha/ (year 3) and 10.9 t/ha/(year 5). In general the biomass increased with increase of diameter and height. Nutrient cycling in the plantation on an annual basis was worked out. A complete harvest of bamboo in 6 years removes 2341 kg/ha of nitrogen, 22 kg/ha of phosphorus, 2,653 kg/ha, of potassium, 1,211 kg/ha of calcium and 1,356 kg/ha of magnesium. A total harvest of above ground biomass of acacia in 3 years removes (kg/ha) 91.74 N, 2.53 P, 73.41 K, 110.45 Ca, 14.06 Mg, and in 4 years removes (kg/ha) 227.47 N, 7.34 P, 181.04 K, 284.15 Ca, and 38.89 Mg.