Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Nitrogen deposition effect on forest litter decomposition is interactively regulated by endogenous litter quality and exogenous resource supply

  • Regular Article
  • Published:
Plant and Soil Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Background and aims

Atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition affects litter decomposition. However, how endogenous litter quality and exogenous resource supply alter the N deposition effect on litter decomposition and deposited N immobilized by microbes remains unclear.

Methods

We conducted a laboratory experiment to examine how the N deposition effect on litter decomposition varies with endogenous litter quality (needle litter with higher C/nutrients, low quality litter versus leaf litter with low C/nutrients, high quality litter) and exogenous resource supply (five treatments: N addition alone; N plus non-N nutrient and/or carbon addition; control) using a 15N tracing method.

Results

Nitrogen deposition increased the % mass and % N remaining across the decomposition process. Adding non-N nutrients increased the N deposition effect on % mass and % N remaining in the decomposing high quality litter but not in the low quality litter. Moreover, the % P remaining was increased in the low quality litter but was decreased in the high quality litter under N deposition. However, adding N and non-N nutrients together increased the % P remaining in both decomposing litters. The immobilized exogenous 15N abundance (IEN) was much higher in the decomposing low quality litter than high quality litter. For low quality litter, resource addition treatments affected IEN, but their effects depended on decomposition stages. For high quality litter, carbon addition alone generally increased IEN across the 720 days.

Conclusions

Nitrogen deposition effect on litter decomposition could be altered by exogenous resource supply, but the pattern ultimately depended on endogenous litter quality. Nitrogen deposition generally suppressed the litter decomposition and non-N nutrients addition enhanced the inhibition effects of N deposition on litter decomposition, especially of high quality litter, while lower quality litter tended to immobilize more exogenous deposited N. Thus, the magnitude of both non-N nutrient availability and litter quality needs to be taken into consideration when assessing the effects of N deposition on litter decomposition.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Allen SE (1989) Chemical Analysis of Ecological Materials, 2nd edn. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford and London

    Google Scholar 

  • Axelsson G, Berg B (1988) Fixation of ammonia (15N) to Pinus silvestris needle litter in different stages of decomposition. Scand J Forest Res 3:273–279

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barantal S, Schimann H, Fromin N, Haettenschwiler S (2012) Nutrient and carbon limitation on decomposition in an Amazonian moist forest. Ecosystems 15(7):1039–1052

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Berg B, Matzner E (1997) Effect of N deposition on decomposition of plant litter and soil organic matter in forest systems. Environ Rev 5:1–25

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Berg B, McClaugherty C (2008) Plant Litter: Decomposition, Humus Formation, Carbon Sequestration, 2nd edn. Springer-Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg, Germany

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Blair JM (1988) Nitrogen, sulfur and phosphorus dynamics in decomposing deciduous leaf litter in the southern Appalachians. Soil Biol Biochem 20:693–701

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bloom AJ, Chapin FS, Mooney HA (1985) Resource limitation in plants—an economic analogy. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 16:363–392

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bosatta E, Berendse F (1984) Energy or nutrient regulation of decomposition-implications for the mineralization immobolization response to perturbations. Soil Biol Biochem 16:63–67

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bossio DA, Scow KM, Gunapala N, Graham KJ (1998) Determinants of soil microbial communities: effects of agricultural management, season, and soil type on phospholipid fatty acid profiles. Microb Ecol 36:1–12

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bowden RD, Davidson E, Savage K, Arabia C, Steudler P (2004) Chronic nitrogen additions reduce total soil respiration and microbial respiration in temperate forest soils at the Harvard Forest. Forest Ecol Manag 196:43–56

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen FS, Feng X, Liang C (2012) Endogenous versus exogenous nutrient affects C, N, and P dynamics in decomposing litters in mid-subtropical forests of China. Ecol Res 27(5):923–932

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Chen FS, Duncan DS, Hu XF, Liang C (2014) Exogenous nutrient manipulations alter endogenous extractability of carbohydrates in decomposing foliar litters under a typical mixed forest of subtropics. Geoderma 214-215:19–24

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Chen Y, Sayer EJ, Li ZA, Mo QF, Li YW, Ding YZ, Wang J, Lu XK, Tang JW, Wang FM (2016) Nutrient limitation of woody debris decomposition in a tropical forest: contrasting effects of N and P addition. Funct Ecol 30:295–304

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen H, Li D, Zhao J, Zhang W, Wang K (2018) Nitrogen addition aggravates microbial carbon limitation: Evidence from ecoenzymatic stoichiometry. Geoderma 329:61–64

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cheshire MV, Bedrock CN, Williams BL, Chapman SJ, Solntseva I, Thomsen I (1999) The immobilization of nitrogen by straw decomposing in soil. Eur J Soil Sci 50:329–341

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cotrufo MF, Wallenstein MD, Boot C, Denef K, Paul E (2013) The microbial efficiency-matrix stabilization (MEMS) framework integrates plant litter decomposition with soil organic matter stabilization: do labile plant inputs form stable soil organic matter? Glob Chang Biol 19:988–995

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cotrufo MF, Soong JL, Horton AJ, Campbell EE, Haddix MH, Wall L, Parton W (2015) Soil organic matter formation from biochemical and physical pathways of litter mass loss. Nat Geosci 8:776–779

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dong WY, Zhang XY, Liu XY, Fu XL, Chen FS, Wang HM, Sun XM, Wen XF (2015) Responses of soil microbial communities and enzyme activities to nitrogen and phosphorus additions in Chinese fir plantations of subtropical China. Biogeosciences 12:5537–5546

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Downs MR, Nadelhoffer KJ, Melillo JM, Aber JD (1996) Immobilization of a 15N-labeled nitrate addition by decomposing forest litter. Oecologia 105:141–150

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Elser JJ, Urabe J (1999) The stoichiometry of consumer-driven nutrient recycling: theory, observations, and consequences. Ecology 80:735–751

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gavinet J, Prévosto B, Bousquet-Melou A, Gros R, Quer E, Baldy V, Fernandez C (2018) Do litter-mediated plant-soil feedbacks influence Mediterranean oak regeneration? A two-year pot experiment. Plant Soil 430:59–71

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hattenschwiler S, Jorgensen HB (2010) Carbon quality rather than stoichiometry controls litter decomposition in a tropical rain forest. J Ecol 98:754–763

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • He P, Wan SZ, Fang XM, Wang FC, Chen FS (2016) Exogenous nutrients and carbon resource change the responses of soil organic matter decomposition and nitrogen immobilization to nitrogen deposition. Sci Rep 6:23717

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Hobbie SE (2005) Contrasting effects of substrate and fertilizer nitrogen on the early stages of litter decomposition. Ecosystems 15:644–656

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hobbie SE (2008) Nitrogen effects on decomposition: a five-year experiment in eight temperate sites. Ecology 89:2633–2644

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Keiblinger KM, Hall EK, Wanek W, Szukics U, Hammerle I, Ellersdorfer G, Bock S, Strauss J, Sterflinger K, Richter A, Zechmeister-Boltenstern S (2010) The effect of resource quantity and resource stoichiometry on microbial carbon-use-efficiency. FEMS Microbiol Ecol 73:430–440

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Knorr M, Frey SD, Curtis PS (2005) Nitrogen additions and litter decomposition: a meta-analysis. Ecology 86:3252–3257

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Manzoni S, Trofymow JA, Jackson RB, Porporato A (2010) Stoichiometric controls on carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus dynamics in decomposing litter. Ecol Monogr 80:89–106

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Manzoni S, Taylor P, Richter A, Porporato A, Agren GI (2012) Environmental and stoichiometric controls on microbial carbon-use efficiency in soils. New Phytol 196:79–91

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mo J, Fang H, Zhu W, Zhou G, Lu X, Fang Y (2008) Decomposition responses of pine (Pinus massoniana) needles with two different nutrient-status to N deposition in a tropical pine plantation in southern China. Ann For Sci 65:405–405

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mooshammer M, Wanek W, Schnecker J, Wild B, Leitner S, Hofhansl F, Blochl A, Hammerle I, Frank AH, Fuchslueger L, Keiblinger KM, Zechmeister-Boltenstern S, Richter A (2012) Stoichiometric controls of nitrogen and phosphorus cycling in decomposing beech leaf litter. Ecology 93:770–782

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nair RKF, Perks MP, Mencuccini M (2017) Decomposition nitrogen is better retained than simulated deposition from mineral amendments in a temperate forest. Glob Chang Biol 23:1711–1724

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Neff JC, Townsend AR, Gleixner G, Lehman SJ, Turnbull J, Bowman WD (2002) Variable effects of nitrogen additions on the stability and turnover of soil carbon. Nature 419:915–917

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Perakis SS, Compton JE, Hedin LO (2005) Nitrogen retention across a gradient of 15N additions to an unpolluted temperate forest soil in Chile. Ecology 86:96–105

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Saiya-Cork KR, Sinsabaugh RL, Zak DR (2002) The effects of long term nitrogen deposition on extracellular enzyme activity in an Acer saccharum forest soil. Soil Biol Biochem 34:1309–1315

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sihi D, Inglett PW, Inglett KS (2016) Carbon quality and nutrient status drive the temperature sensitivity of organic matter decomposition in subtropical peat soils. Biogeochemistry 131:103–119

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sihi D, Inglett PW, Inglett KS (2019) Warming rate drives microbial nutrient demand and enzyme expression during peat decomposition. Geoderma 336:12–21

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sinsabaugh RL, Linkins AE (1993) Statistical modeling of litter decomposition from integrated cellulase activity. Ecology 74:1594–1597

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sinsabaugh RL, Antibus RK, Linkins AE, McClaugherty CA, Rayburn L, Repert D, Weiland T (1992) Wood decomposition over a 1st-order watershed- mass loss as a functional of lignocellulase activity wood. Soil Biol Biochem 24:743–749

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sinsabaugh RL, Manzoni S, Moorhead DL, Richter A (2013) Carbon use efficiency of microbial communities: stoichiometry, methodology and modelling. Ecol Lett 16:930–939

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • SPSS I (2007) SPSS for windows (16.0). SPSS Inc, Chicago

  • Sterner RW, Elser JJ (2002) Ecological stoichiometry. The biology of elements from molecules to the biosphere. Princeton University press, Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • Tilman D (1982) Resource competition and community structure. Princeton Univ Press, Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • Treseder KK (2008) Nitrogen additions and microbial biomass: a meta-analysis of ecosystem studies. Ecol Lett 11:1111–1120

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tu C, Booker FL, Watson DM, Chen X, Rufty TW, Shi W, Hu SJ (2006) Mycorrhizal mediation of plant N acquisition and residue decomposition: impact of mineral N inputs. Glob Chang Biol 12:793–803

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tu LH, Hu HL, Chen G, Peng Y, Xiao YL, Hu TX, Zhang J, Li XW, Liu L, Tang Y (2014) Nitrogen addition significantly affects forest litter decomposition under high levels of ambient nitrogen deposition. PLoS One 9:e88752

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Van Huysen TL, Perakis SS, Harmon ME (2016) Decomposition drives convergence of forest litter nutrient stoichiometry following phosphorus addition. Plant Soil 406:1–14

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wang W, Zhu W (2012) Soil retention of 15N in a simulated N deposition study: effects of live plant and soil organic matter content. Plant Soil 351:61–72

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wang C, Lu X, Mori T, Mao Q, Zhou K, Zhou G, Nie Y, Mo J (2018) Responses of soil microbial community to continuous experimental nitrogen additions for 13 years in a nitrogen-rich tropical forest. Soil Biol Biochem 121:103–112

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Yao Q, Li Z, Song Y, Wright SJ, Guo X, Tringe SG, Tfaily MM, Paša-Tolić L, Hazen TC, Turner BL, Mayes MA, Pan C (2018) Community proteogenomics reveals the systemic impact of phosphorus availability on microbial functions in tropical soil. Nat Ecol Evol 2:499–509

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Zechmeister-Boltenstern S, Keiblinger KM, Mooshammer M, Penuelas J, Richter A, Sardans J, Wanek W (2015) The application of ecological stoichiometry to plant-microbial-soil organic matter transformations. Ecol Monogr 85:133–155

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zeller B, Colin-Belgrand M, Dambrine E, Martin F, Bottner P (2000) Decomposition of 15N -labelled beech litter and fate of nitrogen derived from litter in a beech forest. Oecologia 123:550–559

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Zheng J, Guo R, Li D, Zhang J, Han S (2017) Nitrogen addition, drought and mixture effects on litter decomposition and nitrogen immobilization in a temperate forest. Plant Soil 416:165–179

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zhou Z, Wang C, Zheng M, Jiang L, Luo Y (2017) Patterns and mechanisms of responses by soil microbial communities to nitrogen addition. Soil Biol Biochem 115:433–441

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zhu X, Chen H, Zhang W, Huang J, Fu S, Liu Z, Mo J (2016) Effects of nitrogen addition on litter decomposition and nutrient release in two tropical plantations with N2-fixing vs. non-N2-fixing tree species. Plant Soil 399:61–74

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This study was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant numbers 31730014 & 31360179); Jiangxi Provincial Department of Science and Technology (grant numbers 20181ACH80006 & 20165BCB19006) and CAS Interdisciplinary Innovation Team. We greatly appreciate Jing Fan, Pei-Qing Li, Yu-Fei Zhang and Yu Liu for their help in field sampling and laboratory measurement, and Bridget L. Blood for language embellishment.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Jiangxi Provincial Key Laboratory of Silviculture, Jiangxi Agricultural University, No. 1101, Zhiminda Road, Ganjiang New Area, Nanchang, 330045, People’s Republic of China

    Fu-Sheng Chen, G. Geoff Wang, Xiang-Min Fang & Song-Ze Wan

  2. Key Laboratory of State Forestry Administration on Forest Ecosystem Protection and Restoration of Poyang Lake Watershed, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang, 330045, China

    Fu-Sheng Chen & Yang Zhang

  3. Department Forestry and Environmental Conservation, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, 29634, USA

    G. Geoff Wang

  4. Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, 110015, China

    Chao Liang

Authors
  1. Fu-Sheng Chen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. G. Geoff Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Xiang-Min Fang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Song-Ze Wan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Yang Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Chao Liang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Fu-Sheng Chen or G. Geoff Wang.

Additional information

Responsible Editor: Alfonso Escudero.

Publisher’s note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Electronic supplementary material

ESM 1

(DOC 187 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Chen, FS., Wang, G.G., Fang, XM. et al. Nitrogen deposition effect on forest litter decomposition is interactively regulated by endogenous litter quality and exogenous resource supply. Plant Soil 437, 413–426 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-019-04006-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-019-04006-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation