Sarah C. Castle

Plant Response to Nutrient Availability Across Variable Bedrock Geologies

We investigated the role of rock-derived mineral nutrient availability on the nutrient dynamics of overlying forest communities (Populus tremuloides and Picea engelmanni-Abies lasiocarpa v. arizonica) across three parent materials (andesite, limestone, and sandstone) in the southern Rocky Mountains of Colorado. Broad geochemical differences were observed between bedrock materials; however, bulk soil chemistries were remarkably similar between the three different sites. In contrast, soil nutrient pools were considerably different, particularly for P, Ca, and Mg concentrations. Despite variations in nutrient stocks and nutrient availability in soils, we observed relatively inflexible foliar concentrations and foliar stoichiometries for both deciduous and coniferous species. Foliar nutrient resorption (P and K) in the deciduous species followed patterns of nutrient content across substrate types, with higher resorption corresponding to lower bedrock concentrations. Work presented here indicates a complex plant response to available soil nutrients, wherein plant nutrient use compensates for variations in supply gradients and results in the maintenance of a narrow range in foliar stoichiometry.

Nutrient Addition Dramatically Accelerates Microbial Community Succession

The ecological mechanisms driving community succession are widely debated, particularly for microorganisms. While successional soil microbial communities are known to undergo predictable changes in structure concomitant with shifts in a variety of edaphic properties, the causal mechanisms underlying these patterns are poorly understood. Thus, to specifically isolate how nutrients – important drivers of plant succession – affect soil microbial succession, we established a full factorial nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) fertilization plot experiment in recently deglaciated (∼3 years since exposure), unvegetated soils of the Puca Glacier forefield in Southeastern Peru. We evaluated soil properties and examined bacterial community composition in plots before and one year after fertilization. Fertilized soils were then compared to samples from three reference successional transects representing advancing stages of soil development ranging from 5 years to 85 years since exposure. We found that a single application of +NP fertilizer caused the soil bacterial community structure of the three-year old soils to most resemble the 85-year old soils after one year. Despite differences in a variety of soil edaphic properties between fertilizer plots and late successional soils, bacterial community composition of +NP plots converged with late successional communities. Thus, our work suggests a mechanism for microbial succession whereby changes in resource availability drive shifts in community composition, supporting a role for nutrient colimitation in primary succession. These results suggest that nutrients alone, independent of other edaphic factors that change with succession, act as an important control over soil microbial community development, greatly accelerating the rate of succession.

Assessing nutrient limitation in complex forested ecosystems: alternatives to large-scale fertilization experiments

Quantifying nutrient limitation of primary productivity is a fundamental task of terrestrial ecosystem ecology, but in a high carbon dioxide environment it is even more critical that we understand potential nutrient constraints on plant growth. Ecologists often manipulate nutrients with fertilizer to assess nutrient limitation, yet for a variety of reasons, nutrient fertilization experiments are either impractical or incapable of resolving ecosystem responses to some global changes. The challenges of conducting large, in situ fertilization experiments are magnified in forests, especially the high-diversity forests common throughout the lowland tropics. A number of methods, including fertilization experiments, could be seen as tools in a toolbox that ecologists may use to attempt to assess nutrient limitation, but there has been no compilation or synthetic discussion of those methods in the literature. Here, we group these methods into one of three categories (indicators of soil nutrient supply, organismal indicators of nutrient limitation, and lab-based experiments and nutrient depletions), and discuss some of the strengths and limitations of each. Next, using a case study, we compare nutrient limitation assessed using these methods to results obtained using large-scale fertilizations across the Hawaiian Archipelago. We then explore the application of these methods in high-diversity tropical forests. In the end, we suggest that, although no single method is likely to predict nutrient limitation in all ecosystems and at all scales, by simultaneously utilizing a number of the methods we describe, investigators may begin to understand nutrient limitation in complex and diverse ecosystems such as tropical forests. In combination, these methods represent our best hope for understanding nutrient constraints on the global carbon cycle, especially in tropical forest ecosystems.

Denitrification from nitrogen-fixing biologically crusted soils in a cool desert environment, southeast Utah, USA

IntroductionNitrogen fixation by microorganisms within biological soil crust (“biocrust”) communities provides an important pathway for N inputs in cool desert environments where soil nutrients are low and symbiotic N-fixing plants may be rare. Estimates of N fixation in biocrusts often greatly exceed that of N accretion rates leading to uncertainty regarding N loss pathways.MethodsIn this study we examined nitrogen fixation and denitrification rates in biocrust communities that differed in N fixation potential (low N fixation = light cyanobacterial biocrust, high N fixation = dark cyanolichen crust) at four temperature levels (10, 20, 30, 40°C) and four simulated rainfall levels (0.05, 0.2, 0.6, 1 cm rain events) under controlled laboratory conditions.ResultsAcetylene reduction rates (AR, an index of N fixation activity) were over six-fold higher in dark crusts relative to light crusts. Dark biocrusts also exhibited eight-fold higher denitrification rates. There was no consistent effect of temperature on denitrification rates, but there was an interactive effect of water addition and crust type. In light crusts, denitrification rates increased with increasing water addition, whereas the highest denitrification rates in dark crusts were observed at the lowest level of water addition.ConclusionsThese results suggest that there are no clear and consistent environmental controls on short-term denitrification rates in these biologically crusted soils. Taken together, estimates of denitrification from light and dark biocrusts constituted 3 and 4% of N fixation rates, respectively suggesting that losses as denitrification are not significant relative to N inputs via fixation. This estimate is based on a previously published conversion ratio of ethylene produced to N fixed that is low (0.295), resulting in high estimates of N fixation. If future N fixation studies in biologically crusted soils show that these ratios are closer to the theoretical 3:1 ratio, denitrification may constitute a more significant loss pathway relative to N fixed.

Phosphorus, not nitrogen, limits plants and microbial primary producers following glacial retreat

Unlike temperate soils, where N limits primary productivity, cold and dry soils exposed by retreating glaciers are P-limited. Current models of ecosystem development hold that low nitrogen availability limits the earliest stages of primary succession, but these models were developed from studies conducted in areas with temperate or wet climates. Global warming is now causing rapid glacial retreat even in inland areas with cold, dry climates, areas where ecological succession has not been adequately studied. We combine field and microcosm studies of both plant and microbial primary producers and show that phosphorus, not nitrogen, is the nutrient most limiting to the earliest stages of primary succession along glacial chronosequences in the Central Andes and central Alaska. We also show that phosphorus addition greatly accelerates the rate of succession for plants and for microbial phototrophs, even at the most extreme deglaciating site at over 5000 meters above sea level in the Andes of arid southern Peru. These results challenge the idea that nitrogen availability and a severe climate limit the rate of plant and microbial succession in cold-arid regions and will inform conservation efforts to mitigate the effects of global change on these fragile and threatened ecosystems.

Nutrient limitation of soil microbial activity during the earliest stages of ecosystem development

A dominant paradigm in ecology is that plants are limited by nitrogen (N) during primary succession. Whether generalizable patterns of nutrient limitation are also applicable to metabolically and phylogenetically diverse soil microbial communities, however, is not well understood. We investigated if measures of N and phosphorus (P) pools inform our understanding of the nutrient(s) most limiting to soil microbial community activities during primary succession. We evaluated soil biogeochemical properties and microbial processes using two complementary methodological approaches—a nutrient addition microcosm experiment and extracellular enzyme assays—to assess microbial nutrient limitation across three actively retreating glacial chronosequences. Microbial respiratory responses in the microcosm experiment provided evidence for N, P and N/P co-limitation at Easton Glacier, Washington, USA, Puca Glacier, Peru, and Mendenhall Glacier, Alaska, USA, respectively, and patterns of nutrient limitation generally reflected site-level differences in soil nutrient availability. The activities of three key extracellular enzymes known to vary with soil N and P availability developed in broadly similar ways among sites, increasing with succession and consistently correlating with changes in soil total N pools. Together, our findings demonstrate that during the earliest stages of soil development, microbial nutrient limitation and activity generally reflect soil nutrient supply, a result that is broadly consistent with biogeochemical theory.

What controls plant nutrient use in high elevation ecosystems

The importance of rock-derived mineral nutrients (P, K, Mn, Mg, and Ca) in plant physiological function is well established. However, one important and relatively unexplored question is whether or not the same rules of plant nutrient use efficiency apply to these essential elements even if they are not limiting to primary production. We examined conifer growth and nutrient use dynamics across sites with contrasting geologies (sedimentary and volcanic) that vary in both rock-derived mineral nutrient and N availability. Differences in bedrock geochemistry generally corresponded to differences in available soil nutrients, such that the volcanic site tended to have greater available nutrients. Foliar nutrient concentrations reflected both differences in bedrock chemistry and indices of available soil nutrients for P, K, and Mn. Aboveground biomass production did not follow expected patterns and was greater for trees growing on low nutrient sites, but only with respect to the annual woody increment. Fine litter production did not differ between sites. Finally, we found evidence for trade-offs between two commonly examined components of nutrient use efficiency (NUE): nutrient productivity (An) and mean residence time of nutrients. However, we did not find evidence for higher plant NUE in soils with lower nutrient availability for N or rock-derived nutrients.