Modelling nitrogen saturation and carbon accummulation in heathland soils under elevated nitrogen deposition
Evans, C. D.; Caporn, S. J. M.; Carroll, J. A.; Pilkington, M. G.; Wilson, D. B.; Ray, N.; Cresswell, N.. 2006 Modelling nitrogen saturation and carbon accummulation in heathland soils under elevated nitrogen deposition. Environmental Pollution, 143. 468-478. 10.1016/j.envpol.2005.12.004Full text not available from this repository.
A simple model of nitrogen (N) saturation, based on an extension of the biogeochemical model MAGIC, has been tested at two long-running heathland N manipulation experiments. The model simulates N immobilisation as a function of organic soil C/N ratio, but permits a proportion of immobilised N to be accompanied by accumulation of soil carbon (C), slowing the rate of C/N ratio change and subsequent N saturation. The model successfully reproduced observed treatment effects on soil C and N, and inorganic N leaching, for both sites. At the C-rich upland site, N addition led to relatively small reductions in soil C/N, low inorganic N leaching, and a substantial increase in organic soil C. At the C-poor lowland site, soil C/N ratio decreases and N leaching increases were much more dramatic, and soil C accumulation predicted to be smaller. The study suggests that (i) a simple model can effectively simulate observed changes in soil and leachate N; (ii) previous model predictions based on a constant soil C pool may overpredict future N leaching; (iii) N saturation may develop most rapidly in dry, organic-poor, high-decomposition systems; and (iv) N deposition may lead to significantly enhanced soil C sequestration, particularly in wet, nutrient-poor, organic-rich systems. Enhanced carbon sequestration may slow the rate of nitrogen saturation in heathlands.
|Item Type:||Publication - Article|
|Digital Object Identifier (DOI):||10.1016/j.envpol.2005.12.004|
|Programmes:||CEH Programmes pre-2009 publications > Biogeochemistry > BG01 Measuring and modelling trace gas, aerosol and carbon|
|CEH Sections:||_ Biogeochemistry & Ecosystem Function|
|Format Availability:||Electronic, Print|
|Additional Keywords:||Nitrogen saturation, Soil carbon, Atmospheric deposition, Nitrate leaching|
|NORA Subject Terms:||Agriculture and Soil Science
|Date made live:||04 Jul 2007 09:18|
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