Spring ephemeral herbs and nitrogen cycling in a northern hardwood forest: an experimental test of the vernal dam hypothesis
dc.contributor.author | Rothstein, David E. | en_US |
dc.date.accessioned | 2006-09-08T20:10:15Z | |
dc.date.available | 2006-09-08T20:10:15Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2000-08 | en_US |
dc.identifier.citation | Rothstein, D. E.; (2000). "Spring ephemeral herbs and nitrogen cycling in a northern hardwood forest: an experimental test of the vernal dam hypothesis." Oecologia 124(3): 446-453. <http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/42282> | en_US |
dc.identifier.issn | 0029-8549 | en_US |
dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/42282 | |
dc.description.abstract | In the late 1970s R.N. Muller and F.H. Bormann posited their ”vernal dam” hypothesis, stating that spring-ephemeral herbs in deciduous forests serve as a temporary sink for N when overstory trees are dormant, and then release this N later, in the summer, when the trees are active. This hypothesis has gained wide acceptance, yet two of its critical assumptions have never been experimentally tested: (1) that N taken up by spring ephemerals would otherwise be lost from the ecosystem, and (2) that N from senesced ephemeral tissues contributes to increased rates of summertime N mineralization. To test these assumptions, I quantified patterns of N cycling and loss from a set of paired plots, half of which served as controls and from half of which all spring-ephemeral plants were removed. There were no significant differences in NO 3 – leaching between plots with and without spring ephemeral vegetation. These results are consistent with the relatively low rates of N uptake by the dominant spring ephemeral, Allium tricoccum , and its apparent preference for NH 4 + , which is far less mobile in soil than NO 3 – . In addition, based on sequential sampling, I found that soil microorganisms took up 8 times as much N during the spring than did spring-ephemeral herbs (microbial uptake=3.19 vs. plant uptake=0.41 g N m –2 ), suggesting that microbial immobilization of N is the dominant sink for N during this season. Removal of spring ephemeral vegetation also had no effect on summertime rates of net N mineralization. Furthermore, the addition of spring ephemeral litter to soil+forest floor microcosms did not significantly increase rates of N mineralization in a laboratory incubation. Instead, this experiment demonstrated the overwhelming influence of forest floor litter in controlling the release of mineral N from these soils. Overall, neither assumption of the vernal dam hypothesis holds true in this ecosystem, where patterns of N cycling and loss appear to be dominated by microbial decomposition of forest floor material and soil organic matter. | en_US |
dc.format.extent | 93337 bytes | |
dc.format.extent | 3115 bytes | |
dc.format.mimetype | application/pdf | |
dc.format.mimetype | text/plain | |
dc.language.iso | en_US | |
dc.publisher | Springer-Verlag; Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg | en_US |
dc.subject.other | Key Words Vernal Dam | en_US |
dc.subject.other | Legacy | en_US |
dc.subject.other | N Immobilization | en_US |
dc.subject.other | Microbial Biomass | en_US |
dc.subject.other | Spring Ephemerals | en_US |
dc.subject.other | NO3– Leaching | en_US |
dc.title | Spring ephemeral herbs and nitrogen cycling in a northern hardwood forest: an experimental test of the vernal dam hypothesis | en_US |
dc.type | Article | en_US |
dc.subject.hlbsecondlevel | Natural Resources and Environment | en_US |
dc.subject.hlbsecondlevel | Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology | en_US |
dc.subject.hlbsecondlevel | Ecology and Evolutionary Biology | en_US |
dc.subject.hlbtoplevel | Health Sciences | en_US |
dc.subject.hlbtoplevel | Science | en_US |
dc.description.peerreviewed | Peer Reviewed | en_US |
dc.contributor.affiliationum | School of Natural Resources and Environment, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1115, USA, US | en_US |
dc.contributor.affiliationumcampus | Ann Arbor | en_US |
dc.description.bitstreamurl | http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/42282/1/442-124-3-446_01240446.pdf | en_US |
dc.identifier.doi | http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/PL00008870 | en_US |
dc.identifier.source | Oecologia | en_US |
dc.owningcollname | Interdisciplinary and Peer-Reviewed |
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