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Regional Assessment of N Saturation using Foliar and Root \(\varvec {\delta}^{\bf 15}{\bf N}\)

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Abstract

N saturation induced by atmospheric N deposition can have serious consequences for forest health in many regions. In order to evaluate whether foliar \(\delta^{15}\hbox{N}\) may be a robust, regional-scale measure of the onset of N saturation in forest ecosystems, we assembled a large dataset on atmospheric N deposition, foliar and root \(\delta^{15}\hbox{N}\) and N concentration, soil C:N, mineralization and nitrification. The dataset included sites in northeastern North America, Colorado, Alaska, southern Chile and Europe. Local drivers of N cycling (net nitrification and mineralization, and forest floor and soil C:N) were more closely coupled with foliar \(\delta^{15}\hbox{N}\) than the regional driver of N deposition. Foliar \(\delta^{15}\hbox{N}\) increased non-linearly with nitrification:mineralization ratio and decreased with forest floor C:N. Foliar \(\delta^{15}\hbox{N}\) was more strongly related to nitrification rates than was foliar N concentration, but concentration was more strongly correlated with N deposition. Root \(\delta^{15}\hbox{N}\) was more tightly coupled to forest floor properties than was foliar \(\delta^{15}\hbox{N}\). We observed a pattern of decreasing foliar \(\delta^{15}\hbox{N}\) values across the following species: American beech>yellow birch>sugar maple. Other factors that affected foliar \(\delta^{15}\hbox{N}\) included species composition and climate. Relationships between foliar \(\delta^{15}\hbox{N}\) and soil variables were stronger when analyzed on a species by species basis than when many species were lumped. European sites showed distinct patterns of lower foliar \(\delta^{15}\hbox{N}\), due to the importance of ammonium deposition in this region. Our results suggest that examining \(\delta^{15}\hbox{N}\) values of foliage may improve understanding of how forests respond to the cascading effects of N deposition.

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Acknowledgements

This project was funded, in part, by the Northeastern States Research Cooperative, a joint program of The Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources at the University of Vermont and the USDA Forest Service, Northeastern Research Station. We thank Ethan Fechter-Leggett and Felicia Santoro for laboratory work; Paul Brooks and Stephania Mambella for performing the isotope analyses; and Molly Robin-Abbott for assistance with data analysis. We thank Gerhand Gebauer and Peter Vitousek for their helpful reviews or an earlier version of the manuscript. We appreciate the reviews of two anonymous reviewers.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Northeastern Research Station, USDA Forest Service, P.O. Box 968, Burlington, VT, 05402, USA

    L. H. Pardo & P. Schaberg

  2. Department of Biology, Boston University, Boston, MA, 02215, USA

    P. H. Templer

  3. Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA

    C. L. Goodale

  4. Agricultural Research Service, College Station, TX, 77845, USA

    S. Duke

  5. Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Millbrook, NY, 12545, USA

    P. M. Groffman & G. Lovett

  6. USDA Forest Service, Parsons, WV, 26287-0404, USA

    M. B. Adams

  7. University of Ghent, B-9000, Gent, Belgium

    P. Boeckx

  8. USDA Forest Service, Raleigh, NC, 27606, USA

    J. Boggs & S. McNulty

  9. USDA Forest Service, Durham, NH, 03824-0640, USA

    J. Campbell & L. Rustad

  10. University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106-9610, USA

    B. Colman

  11. US Environmental Protection Agency, Corvallis, OR, 97333-4902, USA

    J. Compton

  12. Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Bangor , LL57 2UP, UK

    B. Emmett

  13. Danish Centre for Forest, Landscape and Planning, Hørsholm, KVL, DK-2970, DK

    P. Gundersen

  14. Norwegian Forest Research Institute, N-1432, Aas, Norway

    J. Kjønaas

  15. University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA

    M. Mack

  16. University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, 03824, USA

    A. Magill & S. Ollinger

  17. Alabama A&M University, Normal, AL, 35762, USA

    M. Mbila

  18. SUNY School of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse, NY, 13210, USA

    M. J. Mitchell & G. McGee

  19. The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109-1048, USA

    K. Nadelhoffer

  20. University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, 05405, USA

    D. Ross

  21. Grand Valley State University, Allendale, MI, 49401, USA

    H. Rueth

  22. University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, N2L 3G1, Canada

    S. Schiff & J. Spoelstra

  23. Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, CH-8903, Birmensdorf, Switzerland

    P. Schleppi

  24. University of Amsterdam, 1018 WV, Amsterdam , NL

    W. Wessel

Authors
  1. L. H. Pardo
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  2. P. H. Templer
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  3. C. L. Goodale
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  30. J. Spoelstra
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  31. W. Wessel
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Correspondence to L. H. Pardo.

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Pardo, L.H., Templer, P.H., Goodale, C.L. et al. Regional Assessment of N Saturation using Foliar and Root \(\varvec {\delta}^{\bf 15}{\bf N}\) . Biogeochemistry 80, 143–171 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-006-9015-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-006-9015-9

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