Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T03:17:57.039Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Ammonium, nitrate and glycine uptake of six Ecuadorian tropical montane forest tree species: an in situ pot experiment with saplings

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 November 2014

Bärbel Wittich ,
Jürgen Homeier  and
Christoph Leuschner
Bärbel Wittich
Affiliation:
Plant Ecology, Albrecht von Haller Institute for Plant Sciences, University of Göttingen, Untere Karspüle 2, 37073 Göttingen, Germany
Jürgen Homeier
Affiliation:
Plant Ecology, Albrecht von Haller Institute for Plant Sciences, University of Göttingen, Untere Karspüle 2, 37073 Göttingen, Germany
Christoph Leuschner*
Affiliation:
Plant Ecology, Albrecht von Haller Institute for Plant Sciences, University of Göttingen, Untere Karspüle 2, 37073 Göttingen, Germany
*
1Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

Not much is known about the nitrogen (N) uptake capacity and N-form preference of tropical trees. In a replicated labelling experiment with 15N-ammonium, 15N-nitrate and dual-labelled glycine applied to saplings of six tree species from southern Ecuadorian montane forests, we tested the hypotheses that (1) the saplings of tropical trees are capable of using organic N even though they are forming arbuscular mycorrhizas, and (2) with increasing altitude, tree saplings increasingly prefer ammonium and glycine over nitrate due to reduced nitrification and growing humus accumulation. Three- to 5-y-old saplings of two species each from 1000, 2000 and 3000 m asl were grown in pots inside the forest at their origin and labelled with non-fertilizing amounts of the three N forms; 15N enrichment was detected 5 days after labelling in fine roots, coarse roots, shoots and leaves. The six species differed with respect to their N-form preference, but neither the abundance of ammonium and nitrate in the soil nor altitude (1000–3000 m asl) seemed to influence the preference. Two species (those with highest growth rate) preferred NH4+ over NO3−, while the other four species took up NO3− and NH4+ at similar rates when both N forms were equally available. After 13C-glycine addition, 13C was significantly accumulated in the biomass of three species (all species with exclusively AM symbionts) but a convincing proof of the uptake of intact glycine molecules by these tropical montane forest trees was not obtained.

Keywords

altitudinal gradientdual-labelled glycineGraffenrieda harlingiiHedyosmum purpurascensHedyosmum spruceiHedyosmum translucidumMyrcia sp. nov.nitrogen uptakePouteria torta15N tracer study
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 31 , Issue 2 , March 2015 , pp. 139 - 152
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

LITERATURE CITED

ANDERSEN, K. M. & TURNER, B. L. 2013. Preferences or plasticity in nitrogen acquisition by understorey palms in a tropical montane forest. Journal of Ecology 101:819–825.Google Scholar
ARNDT, S. K., WANEK, W., HOCH, G., RICHTER, A. & POPP, M. 2002. Flexibility of nitrogen metabolism in the tropical C3–crassulacean acid metabolism tree species Clusia minor. Functional Plant Biology 29:741–747.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
AVERILL, C. & FINZI, A. 2011. Increasing plant use of organic nitrogen with elevation is reflected in nitrogen uptake rates and ecosystem δ15N. Ecology 92:883–891.Google Scholar
BENDIX, J., HOMEIER, J., CUEVA ORTIZ, E., EMCK, P., BRECKLE, S.-W., RICHTER, M. & BECK, E. 2006. Seasonality of weather and tree phenology in a tropical evergreen mountain rain forest. International Journal of Biometeorology 50:370–384.Google Scholar
BREARLEY, F. Q. 2012. Nitrogen stable isotopes indicate differences in nitrogen cycling between two contrasting Jamaican montane forests. Plant and Soil 367:465–476.Google Scholar
DI, H. J. & CAMERON, K. C. 2004. Effects of temperature and application rate of a nitrification inhibitor, dicyandiamide (DCD), on nitrification rate and microbial biomass in a grazed pasture soil. Australian Journal of Soil Research 42:927–932.Google Scholar
FINZI, A. C. & BERTHRONG, S. T. 2005. The uptake of amino acids by microbes and trees in three cold-temperate forests. Ecology 86:3345–3353.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
GOLLER, R., WILCKE, W., FLEISCHBEIN, K., VALAREZO, C. & ZECH, W. 2006. Dissolved nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur forms in the ecosystem fluxes of a montane forest in Ecuador. Biogeochemistry 77:57–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
GRAEFE, S., LEUSCHNER, C., CONERS, H. & HERTEL, D. 2011. Root functioning in tropical high-elevation forests: environmental vs. biological control of root water absorption. Environmental and Experimental Botany 71:329–336.Google Scholar
GUGGENBERGER, G., ZECH, W. & SCHULTEN, H.-R. 1994. Formation and mobilization pathways of dissolved organic matter: evidence from chemical structural studies of organic matter fractions in acid forest floor solutions. Organic Geochemistry 21:51–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
HOMEIER, J., WERNER, F. A., GRADSTEIN, S. R., BRECKLE, S.-W. & RICHTER, M. 2008. Potential vegetation and floristic composition of Andean forests in South Ecuador, with a focus on the RBSF. Pp. 87–100 in Beck, E., Bendix, J., Kottke, I., Makeschin, F. & Mosandl, R. (eds.). Gradients in a tropical mountain ecosystem of Ecuador. Ecological Studies Vol. 198, Springer Verlag, Berlin.Google Scholar
JACOB, A. & LEUSCHNER, C. 2014. Complementarity in the use of nitrogen forms in temperate broad-leaved mixed forest. Plant Ecology and Diversity, in press.Google Scholar
JONES, D. L., KIELLAND, K., SINCLAIR, F. L., DAHLGREN, R. A., NEWSHAM, K. K., FARRAR, J. F. & MURPHY, D. V. 2009. Soil organic nitrogen mineralization across a global latitudinal gradient. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 23: GB1016.Google Scholar
KIELLAND, K. 1994. Amino acid absorption by arctic plants: implications for plant nutrition and nitrogen cycling. Ecology 75:2373.Google Scholar
KIELLAND, K. 1997. Role of free amino acids in the nitrogen economy of arctic cryptogams. Ecoscience 4:75–79.Google Scholar
KOTTKE, I., BECK, A., OBERWINKLER, F., HOMEIER, J. & NEILL, D. 2004. Arbuscular endomycorrhizas are dominant in the organic soil of a neotropical montane cloud forest. Journal of Tropical Ecology 20:125–129.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MARRS, R. H., PROCTOR, J., HEANEY, A. & MOUNTFORD, M. D. 1988. Changes in soil nitrogen-mineralization and nitrification along an altitudinal transect in tropical rain forest in Costa Rica. Journal of Ecology 76:466–482.Google Scholar
MICHALZIK, B., KALBITZ, K., PARK, J.-H., SOLINGER, S. & MATZNER, E. 2001. Fluxes and concentrations of dissolved organic carbon and nitrogen – a synthesis for temperate forests. Biogeochemistry 52:173–205.Google Scholar
MOSER, G., HERTEL, D. & LEUSCHNER, C. 2007. Altitudinal change in LAI and stand leaf biomass in tropical montane forests: a transect study in Ecuador and a pan-tropical meta-analysis. Ecosystems 10:924–935.Google Scholar
MOSER, G., LEUSCHNER, C., HERTEL, D., GRAEFE, S., SOETHE, N. & IOST, S. 2011. Elevation effects on the carbon budget of tropical mountain forests (S Ecuador): the role of the belowground compartment. Global Change Biology 17:2211–2226.Google Scholar
NÄSHOLM, T. & PERSSON, J. 2001. Plant acquisition of organic nitrogen in boreal forests. Physiologia Plantarum 111:419–426.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
NÄSHOLM, T., EKBLAD, A., NORDIN, A., GIESLER, R., HÖGBERG, M. & HÖGBERG, P. 1998. Boreal forest plants take up organic nitrogen. Nature 392:914–916.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
PAOLI, G. D., CURRAN, L. M. & ZAK, D. R. 2005. Phosphorus efficiency of Bornean rain forest productivity: evidence against the unimodal efficiency hypothesis. Ecology 86:1548–1561.Google Scholar
RASMUSSEN, J. & KUZYAKOV, Y. 2009. Carbon isotopes as proof for plant uptake of organic nitrogen: relevance of inorganic carbon uptake. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 41:1586–1587.Google Scholar
TANNER, E. V. J. 1981. The decomposition of leaf litter in Jamaican montane rain forests. Journal of Ecology 69:263–275.Google Scholar
TANNER, E. V. J., VITOUSEK, P. M. & CUEVAS, E. 1998. Experimental investigation of nutrient limitation of forest growth on wet tropical mountains. Ecology 79:10–22.Google Scholar
USELMAN, S. M., QUALLS, R. G. & LILIENFEIN, J. 2012. Quality of soluble organic C, N, and P produced by different types and species of litter: root litter versus leaf litter. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 54:57–67.Google Scholar
VERMA, A., TYAGI, L. & SINGH, S. N. 2007. Attenuation of N2O emission rates from agricultural soil at different dicyandiamide concentrations. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 137:287–293.Google Scholar
VITOUSEK, P. M. & SANFORD, R. L. 1986. Nutrient cycling in moist tropical forest. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 17:137–167.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
WANEK, W. & PÖRTL, K. 2008. Short-term 15N uptake kinetics and nitrogen nutrition of bryophytes in a lowland rainforest, Costa Rica. Functional Plant Biology 35:51–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
WANEK, W., ARNDT, S. K., HUBER, W. & POPP, M. 2002. Nitrogen nutrition during ontogeny of hemiepiphytic Clusia species. Functional Plant Biology 29:733–740.Google Scholar
WITTICH, B., HORNA, V., HOMEIER, J. & LEUSCHNER, C. 2012. Altitudinal change in the photosynthetic capacity of tropical trees – a case study from Ecuador and a pantropical literature analysis. Ecosystems 15:958–973.Google Scholar
WOLF, K., VELDKAMP, E., HOMEIER, J. & MARTINSON, G. O. 2011. Nitrogen availability links forest productivity, soil nitrous oxide and nitric oxide fluxes of a tropical montane forest in southern Ecuador. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 25, GB4009. doi: 10.1029/2010GB003876, 2011.Google Scholar
ZACHERL, B. & AMBERGER, A. 1990. Effect of the nitrification inhibitors dicyandiamide, nitrapyrin and thiourea on Nitrosomonas europaea. Fertilizer Research 22:37–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar