Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2011

Abstract

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.

Comments

The copy of record is available from the publisher at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1744-7429.2011.00831.x/epdf. Copyright © 2011 The Author(s). Journal compilation © 2011by The Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation. doi: 10.1111/j.1744-7429.2011.00831.x

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