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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