Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Effects of mild winter freezing on soil nitrogen and carbon dynamics in a northern hardwood forest

  • Published:
Biogeochemistry Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Overwinter and snowmelt processes are thought to be critical to controllersof nitrogen (N) cycling and retention in northern forests. However, therehave been few measurements of basic N cycle processes (e.g.mineralization, nitrification, denitrification) during winter and littleanalysis of the influence of winter climate on growing season N dynamics.In this study, we manipulated snow cover to assess the effects of soilfreezing on in situ rates of N mineralization, nitrification and soilrespiration, denitrification (intact core, C2H2 – based method),microbial biomass C and N content and potential net N mineralization andnitrification in two sugar maple and two yellow birch stands with referenceand snow manipulation treatment plots over a two year period at theHubbard Brook Experimental Forest, New Hampshire, U.S.A. The snowmanipulation treatment, which simulated the late development of snowpackas may occur in a warmer climate, induced mild (temperatures >−5 °C) soil freezing that lasted until snowmelt. The treatmentcaused significant increases in soil nitrate (NO3 −)concentrations in sugar maple stands, but did not affect mineralization,nitrification, denitrification or microbial biomass, and had no significanteffects in yellow birch stands. Annual N mineralization and nitrificationrates varied significantly from year to year. Net mineralization increasedfrom ∼12.0 g N m−2 y−1 in 1998 to ∼22 g N m−2 y−1 in 1999 and nitrification increased from ∼8 g N m−2 y−1 in 1998 to ∼13 g N m−2 y−1 in 1999.Denitrification rates ranged from 0 to 0.65 g N m−2 y−1. Ourresults suggest that mild soil freezing must increase soil NO3 − levels by physical disruption of the soil ecosystem and not by direct stimulation of mineralization and nitrification. Physical disruption canincrease fine root mortality, reduce plant N uptake and reduce competitionfor inorganic N, allowing soil NO3 − levels to increase evenwith no increase in net mineralization or nitrification.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aber JD,Nadelhoffer KJ,Steudler P &Melillo JM (1989) Nitrogen saturation in northern forest ecosystems. Bio. Sci. 39: 378-386

    Google Scholar 

  • Aber JD &Driscoll CT (1997) Effects of land use, climate variation and N deposition on N cycling and C storage in northern hardwood forests. Biogeochem. Cycles 11: 639-648

    Google Scholar 

  • Alm J,Saarnio AJ,Nykanen H,Silvola J &Martikainen PJ (1999) Winter CO2, CH4 and N2O fluxes on some natural and drained boreal peatlands. Biogeochem. 44: 163-186

    Google Scholar 

  • Barton L,McLay CDA,Schipper LA &Smith CT (1999) Annual denitrification rates in agricultural and forest soils: a review. Aust. J. Soil Res. 37(6): 1073-1093

    Google Scholar 

  • Bohlen PJ,Groffman PM,Fahey TJ,Driscoll CT &Siccama TG (2001) Plant-soil-microbial interactions in a northern hardwood forest. Ecology 82: 965-978

    Google Scholar 

  • Boone RD (1992) Influence of sampling date and substrate on nitrogen mineralization: comparison of laboratory-incubation and buried-bag methods for two Massachusetts forest soils. Can. J. For. Res. 22: 1895-1900

    Google Scholar 

  • Bormann FH,Likens GE &Melillo JM (1977) Nitrogen budget for an aggrading northern hardwood forest ecosystem. Sci. 196: 981-983

    Google Scholar 

  • Bormann FH &Likens GE (1979) Pattern and Process in a Forested Ecosystem. Springer-Verlag, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Boutin R &Robitaille G (1994) Increased soil nitrate losses under mature sugar maple trees affected by experimentally induced deep frost. Can. J. For. Res. 25: 588-602

    Google Scholar 

  • Bowden WB (1986) Gaseous nitrogen emissions from undisturbed terrestrial ecosystems: An assessment of their impacts on local and global nitrogen budgets. Biogeochem. 2: 249-279

    Google Scholar 

  • Brooks PD,Williams MW &Schmidt SK (1996) Microbial activity under alpine snwopacks, Niwot Ridge, Colorado. Biogeochem. 32: 93-113

    Google Scholar 

  • Brooks PD,Schmidt SK &Williams MW (1997) Winter production of CO2 and N2O from alpine tundra: environmental controls and relationship to inter-system C and N fluxes. Oecologia 110: 403-413

    Google Scholar 

  • Brooks PD,Williams MW &Schmidt SK (1998) Inorganic nitrogen and microbial biomass dynamics before and during snowmelt. Biogeochem. 43: 1-15

    Google Scholar 

  • Brooks PD,Campbell DH,Tonnessen KH &Heuer K (1999) Natural variability in N export from headwater catchments: Snow cover controls on ecosystem N retention. Hydrol. Proc. 14-15: 2191-2201

    Google Scholar 

  • Campbell JL,Eagar C,McDowell WH &Hornbeck JW (2000) Analysis of nitrogen dynamics in the Lye Brook wilderness area, Vermont, U.S.A. Water, Air, Soil Pollut. 122: 63-75

    Google Scholar 

  • Christ M,Zhang Y,Likens GE &Driscoll CT (1995) Nitrogen retention capacity of a northern hardwood forest soil under ammonium sulfate additions. Ecol. Appl. 5: 802-812

    Google Scholar 

  • Clein JS &Schimel JP (1995) Microbial activity of tundra and taiga soils at sub-zero temperatures. Soil Biol. Biochem. 27: 1231-1234

    Google Scholar 

  • Cooley KR (1990) Effects of CO2-induced climatic changes on snowpack and streamflow. Hydrol. Sci. 35: 511-522

    Google Scholar 

  • Coxson DS &Parkinson D (1987) Winter respiratory activity in Aspen woodland forest floor litter and soils. Soil Biol. Biochem. 19: 49-59

    Google Scholar 

  • DeVito KJ,Westbrook CJ & Schiff SL (1999) Nitrogen mineralization and nitrification in upland and peatland forest soils in two Canadian Shield catchments. Can. J. For. Res. 29: 1793-1804

    Google Scholar 

  • Duggin JA,Voigt GK &Bormann FH (1991) Autotrophic and heterotrophic nitrification in response to clear-cutting northern hardwood forest. Soil Biol. Biochem. 8: 779-787

    Google Scholar 

  • Edwards AC &Cresser MS (1992) Freezing and its effect on chemical and biological properties of soil. Adv. Soil Sci. 18: 59-79

    Google Scholar 

  • Federer CA (1983) Nitrogen mineralization and nitrification: Depth variation in four New England forest soils. Soil Sci. Am. J. 47: 1008-1014

    Google Scholar 

  • Fenn ME,Poth MA,Aber JD,Baron JS,Bormann BT,Johnson DW,Lemly AD,McNutty SG,Ryan DE &Stottlemyer R (1998) Nitrogen excess in North American ecosystems: Predisposing factors, ecosystem responses, and management strategies. Ecol. Appl. 8: 706-733

    Google Scholar 

  • Finzi AC,van Breemen N &Canham CC (1998) Canopy tree-soil interactions within temperate forests: Species effects on soil carbon and nitrogen. Ecol. Appl. 8: 440-446

    Google Scholar 

  • Fisk M &Fahey TJ (1990) Nitrification potential in the organic horizon following clearfelling of northern hardwood forests. Soil Biol. Biochem. 22: 277-279

    Google Scholar 

  • Fitzhugh RD (2000) Canopy tree-soil-microbial interactions in a northern hardwood ecosystem: Effects of soil freezing disturbance on soil solution chemistry and nutrient loss. PhD Dissertation, Syracuse University. 245 pp

  • Fitzhugh RD, Driscoll CT, Groffman PM, Tierney GL, Fahey TJ & Hardy JP (this issue) Effects of soil freezing disturbance on soil solution nitrogen, phosphorus and carbon chemistry in a northern hardwood ecosystem. Biogeochem. 56: 215-238

  • Foster DR,Aber JD,Melillo JM,Bowden RD &Bazzaz FA (1997) Forest response to disturbance and anthropogenic stress. Biosci. 47: 437-445

    Google Scholar 

  • Goodale CL &Aber JD (2001) The long-term effects of land-use history on nitrogen cycling in northern hardwood forests. Ecol. Appl. 11: 253-267

    Google Scholar 

  • Groffman PM,Hardy JP,Nolan S,Driscoll CT,Fitzhugh RD &Fahey TJ (1999) Snow depth, soil frost and nutrient loss in a northern hardwood forest. Hydrol. Proc. 13: 2275-2286

    Google Scholar 

  • Groffman PM,Holland E,Myrold DD,Robertson GP &Zou X (1999) Denitrification. In: Robertson GP,Bledsoe CS,Coleman DC &Sollins P (Eds) Standard Soil Methods for Long Term Ecological Research (pp 272-290). Oxford University Press, New York Hardy JP

    Google Scholar 

  • Albert MR &Marsh P (1999) Snow Hydrology: The Integration of Physical, Chemical and Biological Systems. John Wiley and Sons, Ltd., Chichester

    Google Scholar 

  • Hardy JP, Groffman PM, Fitzhugh RD, Henry KS, Welman TA, Demers JD, Fahey TJ, Driscoll CT, Tierney GL & Nolan S (this issue) Snow depth, soil frost and water dynamics in a northern hardwood forest. Biogeochem. 56: 151-174

  • Hart SC,Binkley D &Perry DA (1997) Influence of red alder on soil nitrogen transformations in two conifer forests of contrasting productivity. Soil Biol. Biochem. 29: 1111-1123

    Google Scholar 

  • Hill AR &Shackleton M (1989) Soil N mineralization and nitrification in relation to nitrogen solution chemistry in a small forested watershed. Biogeochem. 8: 167-184

    Google Scholar 

  • Hobbie SE &Chapin FS (1996) Winter regulation of tundra litter carbon and nitrogen dynamics. Biogeochem. 35: 327-338

    Google Scholar 

  • Houlton BZ, Driscoll CT, Fahey TJ, Likens GE, Groffman PM, Bernhardt E & Buso D (in preparation) Nitrogen dynamics and loss following a nice storm: Implications for nitrogen limitation to temperate zone forests. Submitted to Ecosystems

  • Hughes JW &Fahey TJ (1994) Litterfall dynamics and ecosystem recovery during forest development. Forest Ecol. Manag. 63: 181-198

    Google Scholar 

  • Jenkinson DS &Powlson DS (1976) The effects of biocidal treatments on metabolism in soil V. A method for measuring soil biomass. Soil Biol. Biochem. 8: 209-213

    Google Scholar 

  • Lamontagne S (1998) Nitrogen mineralization in upland Precambrain Shield catchments: contrasting the role of lichen-covered bedrock and forested areas. Biogeochem. 41: 53-69

    Google Scholar 

  • Lawrence GB,Lovett GM &Baevsky YH (2000) Atmospheric deposition and watershed nitrogen export along an elevational gradient in the Catskill Mountains, New York. Biogeochem. 50: 21-43

    Google Scholar 

  • Likens GE,Borman FH &Johnson NM (1969) Nitrification: Importance to nutrient losses from a cutover forested ecosystem. Sci. 163: 1205-1206

    Google Scholar 

  • Likens GE &Bormann FH (1995) Biogeochemistry of a Forested Ecosystem, Second Edition. Springer-Verlag, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Likens GE,Driscoll CT &Buso DC (1996) Long-term effects of acid rain: response and recovery of a forest ecosystem. Sci. 272: 244-245

    Google Scholar 

  • Lipson DA,Schmidt SK,Russel K &Monson K (2000) Carbon availability and temperature control the post-snowmelt decline in alpine soil microbial biomass. Soil Biol. Biochem. 32: 441-448

    Google Scholar 

  • Lovett GM &Rueth H (1999) Potential nitrogen mineralization and nitrification in american beech and sugar maple stands along a nitrogen deposition gradient in the northeastern U.S. Ecol. Appl. 9: 1330-1344

    Google Scholar 

  • Lovett GM,Weathers KC &Sobczak WV (2000) Nitrogen saturation and retention in forested watersheds of the Catskill Mountains, New York. Ecol. Appl. 10: 73-84

    Google Scholar 

  • Magill AH,Aber JD,Berntson GM,McDowell WH,Nadelhoffer KJ,Melillo JM &Steudler P (2000) Long-term nitrogen additions and nitrogen saturation in two temperate forests. Ecosystems 3: 238-253

    Google Scholar 

  • Melillo JM (1977) Mineralization of Nitrogen in Northern Hardwood Forest Ecosystems. Ph.D Dissertation, Yale University

  • Melloh RA &Crill PM (1995) Winter methane dynamics beneath ice and in snow in a temperature poor fen. Hydrol. Proc. 9: 947-956

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller RM &Jastrow JD (1990) Hierarchy of root and mycorrhizal fungal interactions with soil aggregation. Soil Biol. Biochem. 22: 579-584

    Google Scholar 

  • Mitchell MJ,Driscoll CT,Kahl JS,Likens GE,Murdoch PS &Pardo LH (1996) Climate control of nitrate loss from forested watersheds in the northeastern United States. Environ. Sci. Technol. 30: 2609-2612

    Google Scholar 

  • Mullen RB,Schmidt SK &Jaeger CH III (1998) Nitrogen uptake during snowmelt by the snow buttercup, Ranunculus adoneus. Arctic and Alpine Res. 30: 121-125

    Google Scholar 

  • Murdoch PS,Burns DA &Lawrence GB (1998) Relation of climate change to the acidification of surface waters by nitrogen deposition. Environ. Sci. Technol. 32: 1642-1647

    Google Scholar 

  • Nielsen CB,Groffman PM,Hamburg SP,Fahey TJ,Driscoll CT &Hardy JP (2001) Freezing effects on carbon and nitrogen cycling in soils from a northern hardwood forest. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 65: in press

  • Nyborg M,Laidlaw JW,Solberg ED &Malhi SS (1997) Denitrification and nitrous oxide emissions from a Black Chernozemic soil during spring thaw in Alberta. Can. J. Soil. Sci. 77: 153-160

    Google Scholar 

  • Pastor J,Aber JB,McClaugherty CA &Melillo JM (1984) Aboveground production and N and P cycling along a nitrogen mineralization gradient on Blackhawk Island, Wisconsin. Ecol. 65: 256-268

    Google Scholar 

  • Pawluk S (1988) Freeze-thaw effects on granular structure reorganization for soil materials of varying texture and moisture content. Can. J. Soil. Sci. 68: 485-494

    Google Scholar 

  • Rascher CM,Driscoll CT &Peters NE (1987) Concentration and flux of solutes from snow and forest floor during snowmelt in the West-Central Adirondack region of New York. Biogeochem. 3: 209-224

    Google Scholar 

  • Reich PB,Grigal DF,Aber JD &Gower ST (1997) Nitrogen mineralization and productivity in 50 hardwood and conifer stands on diverse soils. Ecol. 78: 335-347

    Google Scholar 

  • Robertson GP,Wedin D,Groffman PM,Blair JM,Holland EA,Nadelhoffer KJ &Harris D (1999) Soil carbon and nitrogen availability: Nitrogen mineralization, nitrification and carbon turnover. In: Robertson GP,Bledsoe CS,Coleman DC &Sollins P (Eds) Standard Soil Methods for Long Term Ecological Research (pp 258-271). Oxford University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Sakai A &Larcher W (1987) Frost Survival of Plants. Springer-Verlag, Berlin

    Google Scholar 

  • SAS (1989) SAS/STAT User' Guide, Release 6.03. SAS Institute Incorporated. Cary, North Carolina

    Google Scholar 

  • Schimel JP &Clein JS (1996) Microbial response to freeze-thaw cycles in tundra and taiga soils. Soil Biol. Biochem. 28: 1061-1066

    Google Scholar 

  • Scott NA &Binkley D (1997) Foliage litter quality and annual net N minrealization: comparison across North American forest sites. Oecologia 11: 151-159

    Google Scholar 

  • Sommerfeld RA,Mosier AR &Musselman RC (1993) CO2, CH4 and N2O flux through a Wyoming snowpack and implications for global budgets. Nature 361: 140-142

    Google Scholar 

  • Stottlemyer R &Toczydlowski D (1996) Precipitation, snowpack, stream-water ion chemistry, and flux in a northern Michigan watershed, 1982-1991. Can. J. Fish. Aq. Sci. 53: 2659-2672

    Google Scholar 

  • Stottlemyer R &Toczydlowski D (1999) Seasonal changes in precipitation, snowpack, snowmelt, soil water and streamwater chemistry, Northern Michigan. Hydrol. Proc. 13: 2215-2232

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor BR &Jones HG (1990) Litter decomposition under snow cover in a balsam fir forest, Can. J. Bot. 68: 112-120

    Google Scholar 

  • Tierney GL, Fahey TJ, Groffman PM, Hardy JP, Fitzhugh RD & Driscoll CR (this issue) Soil freezing alters fine root dynamics in a northern hardwood forest. Biogeochem. 56: 175-190

  • Tilman D (1998) Species composition, species diversity, and ecosystem processes: Understanding the impacts of global change. In: Pace ML &Groffman PM (Eds) Successes, Limitations and Frontiers in Ecosystem Science (pp 452-472) Springer-Verlag, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Vogt KA,Grier CC &Vogt DJ (1986) Production, turnover and nutrient dynamics of aboveand belowground detritus of world forests. Adv. Ecol. Res. 15: 303-377

    Google Scholar 

  • Williams MW,Brooks PD &Seastedt T (1998) Nitrogen and carbon soil dynamics in response to climate change in a high-elevation ecosystem in the rocky mountains, U.S.A. Arctic & Alpine Res. 30: 26-30

    Google Scholar 

  • Zak DR,Host GE &Pregitzer KS (1989) Regional variability in nitrogen mineralization, nitrification and overstory biomass in northern Lower Michigan. Can. J. For. Res. 19: 1521-1526

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Box AB, Millbrook, NY, 12545, USA (author for correspondence; e-mail

    Peter M. Groffman

  2. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, 13244, USA

    Charles T. Driscoll & Ross D. Fitzhugh

  3. Department of Natural Resources, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA

    Timothy J. Fahey & Geraldine L. Tierney

  4. Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laborary, U.S. Army, Hanover, NH, 03755, USA

    Janet P. Hardy

Authors
  1. Peter M. Groffman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Charles T. Driscoll
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Timothy J. Fahey
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Janet P. Hardy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Ross D. Fitzhugh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Geraldine L. Tierney
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Peter M. Groffman.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Groffman, P.M., Driscoll, C.T., Fahey, T.J. et al. Effects of mild winter freezing on soil nitrogen and carbon dynamics in a northern hardwood forest. Biogeochemistry 56, 191–213 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1013024603959

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1013024603959

Search

Navigation