Moderately elevated nitrogen deposition altering soil carbon dynamics

Nagano, Hirohiko*; Nakayama, Masataka  ; Katata, Genki*; Fukushima, Keitaro*; Yamaguchi, Takashi*; Watanabe, Makoto*; Atarashi-Andoh, Mariko  ; Tateno, Ryunosuke*; Hiradate, Shuntaro*; Koarashi, Jun   

Even a moderately elevated nitrogen (N) deposition alters soil carbon (C) dynamics which produces one of the largest C effluxes to the atmosphere in the global C cycle. In a Japanese northern deciduous forest, we found that moderately elevated N deposition in forest edge areas significantly increased soil microbial activity without changing soil microbial species composition. Laboratory incubation studies showed that N addition equivalent to 1% of total N content in soils significantly stimulated carbon dioxide (CO) release in Andosol. Moreover, the N addition showed no significant effect on the CO release rate under dry-wet cycles, whereas an increasing fluctuation in soil water content was found to simulate the CO release rate. These results demonstrate complicated effects of moderately elevated N deposition on soil C dynamics, and encourage further work to improve our understanding and predictability of future environments under progressive climate change and increasing N availability.