Pedosphere 19(1): 111--120, 2009
ISSN 1002-0160/CN 32-1315/P
©2009 Soil Science Society of China
Published by Elsevier B.V. and Science Press
| Response of nitrogen leaching to simulated nitrogen deposition in disturbed and mature forests of southern China |
FANG Yun-Ting1 , M. YOH2, MO Jiang-Ming1,2, P. GUNDERSEN3 and ZHOU Guo-Yi1 |
1 Dinghushan Forest Ecosystem Research Station, South China Botanical Garden, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Zhaoqing, Guangdong 520670 (China). E-mail: fangyt@scib.ac.cn;
2 Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Tokyo 183-8509 (Japan);
3 Forest & Landscape Denmark, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Hoersholm Kongevej 11 2970(Denmark) |
| ABSTRACT |
| Current nitrogen (N) leaching losses and their responses to monthly N additions were investigated under a disturbed pine (Pinus massoniana) forest and a mature monsoon broadleaf forest in southern China. N leaching losses from both disturbed and mature forests were quite high (14.6 and 29.2 kg N ha-1 year-1, respectively), accounting for 57% and 80% of their corresponding atmospheric N inputs. N leaching losses were substantially increased following the first 1.5 years of N applications in both forests. The average increases induced by the addition of 50 and 100 kg N ha-1 year-1 were 36.5 and 24.9 kg N ha-1 year-1, respectively, in the mature forest, accounting for 73.0% and 24.9% of the annual amount of N added, and 14.2 and 16.8 kg N ha-1 year-1 in the disturbed forest, accounting for 28.4% and 16.8% of the added N. Great N leaching and a fast N leaching response to N additions in the mature forest might result from long-term N accumulation and high ambient N deposition load (greater than 30 kg N ha-1 year-1 over the past 15 years), whereas in the disturbed forest, it might result from the human disturbance and high ambient N deposition load. These results suggest that both disturbed and mature forests in the study region may be sensitive to increasing N deposition. |
| Key Words: atmospheric N deposition, N addition, N leaching loss, N saturation, subtropical forests |
| Citation: Fang, Y. T., Yoh, M., Mo, J. M., Gundersen, P. and Zhou, G. Y. 2009. Response of nitrogen leaching to simulated nitrogen deposition in disturbed and mature forests of southern China. Pedosphere. 19(1): 111-120. |
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