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Root Growth and Response to Nitrogen

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Carbon and Nitrogen Cycling in European Forest Ecosystems

Part of the book series: Ecological Studies ((ECOLSTUD,volume 142))

Abstract

Environmental conditions and nutrient supply do not only affect the above-ground growth of forest trees, but also the below-ground growth. In model experiments, N additions to soil can result in both increases and decreases in root dry weight or root length. More consistently, in most cases a decrease in the root/shoot biomass ratio is observed as a result of increased N supply in soil (George and Seith 1998; see also Chapin III et al. 1987). Some nitrogen fertilisation experiments suggest that much of the increased above-ground production may be due to a carbon translocation from below-ground to above-ground parts (Linder and Axelsson 1982). Although this change in carbon allocation is not necessarily harmful to the tree, on low-nutrient soils a nutrient imbalance may occur in the tree as a consequence of the decreased root/shoot ratio, and this may be one of the factors causing forest decline symptoms. Such effects can also be studied in the field in N-fertilisation experiments (Ahlstrom et al. 1988; Persson et al. 1995a) or N-addition and removal experiments (Clemensson-Lindell and Persson 1995; Persson et al. 1998). In the present experiment, we compared root growth of Norway spruce (Picea abies) and European beech (Fagus sylvatica) at different sites with contrasting climate and N deposition.

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Authors
  1. C. Stober
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  2. E. George
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  3. H. Persson
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Max-Planck-Institute for Biogeochemistry, P.O. Box 10 01 64, 07701, Jena, Germany

    Ernst-Detlef Schulze

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© 2000 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Stober, C., George, E., Persson, H. (2000). Root Growth and Response to Nitrogen. In: Schulze, ED. (eds) Carbon and Nitrogen Cycling in European Forest Ecosystems. Ecological Studies, vol 142. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-57219-7_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-57219-7_5

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-67239-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-57219-7

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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