Effects of anthropogenic nitrogen deposition on soil nitrogen mineralization and immobilization in grassland soil under semiarid climatic conditions.

Earlier studies by the authors on English soils under grassland strongly supported their hypothesis that soil/plant systems have naturally evolved to conserve nitrogen (N) by having a close match between the dynamics of mineral-N production in soils and the dynamics of plant N requirements. Thus, maximum mineral-N production in soils occurred in spring when plant N requirements were greatest and were very low in mid to late summer. Low temperature and a high C:N ratio of senescing material helped to conserve N in winter, but mobile N was associated with pollution inputs. We test the hypothesis that under the much more arid conditions of Pakistan, soil/plant systems naturally have evolved to conserve mineral-N, especially over the very dry and cooler months between October and February. When soils from a grassland site were incubated at ambient temperatures after removal of plant roots and exclusion of atmospheric N inputs, there was consistent evidence of immobilization of nitrate and immobilization and possibly volatilization of ammonia/ammonium. In the wetter months of July and August, the soil at 0-10 cm depth showed no evidence of significant ammonium-N production in July and only small ammonium production at 10-20 cm depth in August, but was associated with significant nitrate-N immobilization in August. Nitrate leaching only appeared likely towards the end of the rainy season in September. The results strongly suggest that, under grass, the retention of atmospheric N inputs over the long dry periods is regulating the pools of available N in the soils, rather than the N produced by mineralization of soil organic matter.

Disruption of the naturally evolved N conservation strategy in soil under grassland at a sports field in York, UK.

Water- and KCl-extractable ammonium-N and nitrate-N concentrations have been monitored at approximately monthly intervals over a year in soils from 0-10 and 10-20 cm depths under permanent grass at a sports field in York, UK. Measurements were made on both fresh, field-moist soils and after the same soils had been incubated for 7 days at ambient outdoor temperatures, to assess seasonal changes in the capacity of the soils to produce mineral-N species in the absence of plant uptake and other effects. Water extracts allowed potential mobility of N species to be assessed. Comparison of seasonal trends in mineral-N species concentrations in pre- and post-incubation soils confirmed depletion of exchangeable ammonium-N from the winter to summer. Mineral-N in fresh and incubated soils displayed summer minima and also low production in winter, associated with the effects of low temperature on nitrate production and probably microbial immobilization of nitrate produced by residual senescent plant litter with a higher C:N ratio from the previous autumn. The results support the concept that plant/soil systems co-evolved under more pristine conditions to conserve soil N by matching the dynamics of soil mineral N production and plant N uptake, but now N pollution has resulted in a dynamic mismatch.

Does plant uptake or low soil mineral-N production limit mineral-N losses to surface waters and groundwater from soils under grass in summer?

Summer minima and autumn/winter maxima in nitrate concentrations in rivers are reputedly due to high plant uptake of nitrate from soils in summer. A novel alternative hypothesis is tested here for soils under grass. By summer, residual readily mineralizable plant litter from the previous autumn/winter is negligible and fresh litter input low. Consequently little mineral-N is produced in the soil. Water-soluble and KCl-extractable mineral N in fresh soils and soils incubated outdoors for 7 days have been monitored over 12 months for soil transects at two permanent grassland sites near York, UK, using 6 replicates throughout. Vegetation-free soil is shown to produce very limited mineral-N in summer, despite the warm, moist conditions. Litter accumulates in autumn/winter and initially its high C:N ratio favours N accumulation in the soil. It is also shown that mineral-N generated monthly in situ in soil substantially exceeds the monthly mineral-N inputs via wet deposition at the sites.