Short- and long-term plant and microbial uptake of 15N-labelled urea in a mesic tundra heath, West Greenland
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Short- and long-term plant and microbial uptake of 15N-labelled urea in a mesic tundra heath, West Greenland. / Barthelemy, Hélène; Nobel, Liv Alexa; Stark, Sari; Väisänen, Maria; Olofsson, Johan; Michelsen, Anders.
In: Polar Biology, Vol. 47, 2024, p. 1-15.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
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T1 - Short- and long-term plant and microbial uptake of 15N-labelled urea in a mesic tundra heath, West Greenland
AU - Barthelemy, Hélène
AU - Nobel, Liv Alexa
AU - Stark, Sari
AU - Väisänen, Maria
AU - Olofsson, Johan
AU - Michelsen, Anders
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2023, The Author(s).
PY - 2024
Y1 - 2024
N2 - Terrestrial animals are key elements in the cycling of elements in the Arctic where nutrient availability is low. Waste production by herbivores, in particular urine deposition, has a crucial role for nitrogen (N) recycling, still, it remains largely unexplored. Also, experimental evidence is biased toward short-term studies and Arctic regions under high herbivore pressure. In this study, we aimed to examine the fate of N derived from urine in a nutrient poor tundra heath in West Greenland, with historical low level of herbivory. We performed a pulse labelling with 15N-urea over the plant canopy and explored ecosystem N partition and retention in the short-term (2 weeks and 1 year) and longer-term (5 years). We found that all vascular plants, irrespective of their traits, could rapidly take up N-urea, but mosses and lichens were even more efficient. Total 15N enrichment was severely reduced for all plants 5 years after tracer addition, with the exception of cryptogams, indicating that non-vascular plants constituted a long-term sink of 15N-urea. The 15N recovery was also high in the litter suggesting high N immobilization in this layer, potentially delaying the nutrients from urine entering the soil compartment. Long-term 15N recovery in soil microbial biomass was minimal, but as much as 30% of added 15N remained in the non-microbial fraction after 5 years. Our results demonstrate that tundra plants that have evolved under low herbivory pressure are well adapted to quickly take advantage of labile urea, with urine having only a transient effect on soil nutrient availability.
AB - Terrestrial animals are key elements in the cycling of elements in the Arctic where nutrient availability is low. Waste production by herbivores, in particular urine deposition, has a crucial role for nitrogen (N) recycling, still, it remains largely unexplored. Also, experimental evidence is biased toward short-term studies and Arctic regions under high herbivore pressure. In this study, we aimed to examine the fate of N derived from urine in a nutrient poor tundra heath in West Greenland, with historical low level of herbivory. We performed a pulse labelling with 15N-urea over the plant canopy and explored ecosystem N partition and retention in the short-term (2 weeks and 1 year) and longer-term (5 years). We found that all vascular plants, irrespective of their traits, could rapidly take up N-urea, but mosses and lichens were even more efficient. Total 15N enrichment was severely reduced for all plants 5 years after tracer addition, with the exception of cryptogams, indicating that non-vascular plants constituted a long-term sink of 15N-urea. The 15N recovery was also high in the litter suggesting high N immobilization in this layer, potentially delaying the nutrients from urine entering the soil compartment. Long-term 15N recovery in soil microbial biomass was minimal, but as much as 30% of added 15N remained in the non-microbial fraction after 5 years. Our results demonstrate that tundra plants that have evolved under low herbivory pressure are well adapted to quickly take advantage of labile urea, with urine having only a transient effect on soil nutrient availability.
KW - N labelling
KW - Arctic tundra
KW - Ecosystem N retention
KW - Microbial N immobilization
KW - Plant nitrogen uptake
KW - Urine
U2 - 10.1007/s00300-023-03209-6
DO - 10.1007/s00300-023-03209-6
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85176346000
VL - 47
SP - 1
EP - 15
JO - Polar Biology
JF - Polar Biology
SN - 0722-4060
ER -
ID: 374401712