Mosses, among all types of terrestrial vegetation, are excellent scavengers of anthropogenic nitrogen (N), but their utilization of dissolved organic N (DON) and their reliance on atmospheric N remain uncharacterized in natural environments, which obscures their roles in N cycles. Natural (15) N abundance of N sources (nitrate (NO(3)(-)), ammonium (NH(4)(+)) and DON in deposition and soil) for epilithic and terricolous mosses was analyzed at sites with different N depositions at Guiyang, China. Moss NO(3)(-) assimilation was inhibited substantially by the high supply of NH(4)(+) and DON. Therefore, contributions of NH(4)(+) and DON to moss N were partitioned using isotopic mass-balance methods. The N contributions averaged 56% and 46% from atmospheric NH(4)(+), and 44% and 17% from atmospheric DON in epilithic and terricolous mosses, respectively. In terricolous mosses, soil NH(4)(+) and soil DON accounted for 16% and 21% of bulk N, which are higher than current estimations obtained using (15) N-labeling methods. Moreover, anthropogenic NH(4)(+) deposition suppressed utilization of DON and soil N because of the preference of moss for NH(4)(+) under elevated NH(4)(+) deposition. These results underscore the dominance of, and preference for, atmospheric NH(4)(+) in moss N utilization, and highlight the importance of considering DON and soil N sources when estimating moss N sequestration and the impacts of N deposition on mosses.
© 2013 The Authors. New Phytologist © 2013 New Phytologist Trust.