Nitrogen saturation of terrestrial ecosystems

Nitrogen saturation, in the sense that nitrogen additions to an ecosystem lead to losses of the same order of magnitude, is analyzed as an interplay between a plant subsystem and a soil subsystem. The plant system is defined by its nitrogen productivity, which allows calculations of the maximum amou...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental pollution (1987) 1988, Vol.54 (3), p.185-197
Main Authors: Ågren, Göran I., Bosatta, Ernesto
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Applied ecology
Biological and medical sciences
coniferous forests
ecological balance
Ecotoxicology, biological effects of pollution
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
harvesting
nitrogen
plants
saturation
soil
Terrestrial environment, soil, air
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Summary:Nitrogen saturation, in the sense that nitrogen additions to an ecosystem lead to losses of the same order of magnitude, is analyzed as an interplay between a plant subsystem and a soil subsystem. The plant system is defined by its nitrogen productivity, which allows calculations of the maximum amount of nitrogen that can be held in, and the maximum nitrogen flux density that can be utilized by, the plant subsystem. The most important response of the soil subsystem is a change in the microbial nitrogen concentration, from which the nitrogen absorption capacity can be derived. It is shown that of the two subsystems the soil must always saturate first. The time to reach saturation depends strongly on site history in terms of the sources of litter forming the soil organic matter and on the ratio between the external nitrogen inflows and the litter nitrogen flow.
ISSN:0269-7491
1873-6424
DOI:10.1016/0269-7491(88)90111-X