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Nitrogen Addition Shapes Soil Phosphorus Availability in Two Reforested Tropical Forests in Southern China
Author(s) -
Lu Xiankai,
Mo Jiangming,
Gilliam Frank S.,
Fang Hua,
Zhu Feifei,
Fang Yunting,
Zhang Wei,
Huang Juan
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
biotropica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.813
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1744-7429
pISSN - 0006-3606
DOI - 10.1111/j.1744-7429.2011.00831.x
Subject(s) - understory , environmental science , plant litter , litter , agronomy , vegetation (pathology) , nutrient , tropics , phosphorus , ecosystem , agroforestry , ecology , biology , canopy , chemistry , organic chemistry , medicine , pathology
Scant information is available on how soil phosphorus (P) availability responds to atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition, especially in the tropical zones. This study examined the effect of N addition on soil P availability, and compared this effect between forest sites of contrasting land‐use history. Effects of N addition on soil properties, litterfall production, P release from decomposing litter, and soil P availability were studied in a disturbed (reforested pine forest with previous understory vegetation and litter harvesting) and a rehabilitated (reforested mixed pine/broadleaf forest with no understory vegetation and litter harvesting) tropical forest in southern China. Experimental N‐treatments (above ambient) were the following: Control (no N addition), N50 (50 kg N ha −1 yr −1 ), and N100 (100 kg N ha −1 yr −1 ). Results indicated that N addition significantly decreased soil P availability in the disturbed forest. In the rehabilitated forest, however, soil P availability was significantly increased by N addition. Decreases in soil P availability may be correlated with decreases in rates of P release from decomposing litter in the N‐treated plots, whereas the increase in soil P availability was correlated with an increase in litterfall production. Our results suggest that response of soil P availability to N deposition in the reforested tropical forests in southern China may vary greatly with temporal changes in tree species composition and soil nutrient status, caused by different land‐use practices.