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Nitrogen and carbon interactions between boreal soils and lakes
Author(s) -
Khalili Maria I.,
Temnerud Johan,
Fröberg Mats,
Karltun Erik,
Weyhenmeyer Gesa A.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
global biogeochemical cycles
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.512
H-Index - 187
eISSN - 1944-9224
pISSN - 0886-6236
DOI - 10.1029/2009gb003668
Subject(s) - soil water , boreal , environmental science , nitrogen , carbon fibers , taiga , oceanography , environmental chemistry , hydrology (agriculture) , ecology , soil science , geology , chemistry , biology , materials science , geotechnical engineering , organic chemistry , composite number , composite material
In this study, we used a large data set on nitrogen (N) and carbon (C) from Swedish boreal soils and lake waters to investigate N and C interactions between soils and lake waters. To link thousands of soils sites with hundreds of lake sites distributed all over Sweden, we gridded the data and found a significant relation between gridded C:N ratios of the organic soil layer and the ones of lake waters. We also found evidence of N deposition having depressed the C:N ratios of lake waters more than the ones of organic soil layers. In lake waters N strongly increased toward southern Sweden, mainly in the form of nitrate‐nitrogen (NO 3 − ‐N) which we primarily attribute to an increased NO 3 − ‐N input from the boreal soils into the lakes. In contrast to N we found a much weaker direct relationship for C between soils and lake waters over Sweden. Instead, lake C was strongly related to lake morphometry and catchment characteristics. Our results indicate that large‐scale variations in soil C content are not directly linked to C concentrations in lake waters, whereas soil N seems to leach in small amounts from the soils directly into the lakes in form of NO 3 − ‐N. Such differences in N and C interactions between soils and lake waters give important insights into the global biogeochemical cycling of N and C.