Throughfall reduction diminished the enhancing effect of N addition on soil N leaching loss in an old, temperate forest

Abstract

Soil nitrogen (N) leaching is recognized to have negative effects on the environment. There is a lack of studies on different simultaneously occurring drivers of environmental change, including changing rainfall and N deposition, on soil N leaching. In this study, a two factorial field experiment was conducted in a Korean pine forest with the following four treatments: 30% of throughfall reduction (TR), 50 kg N ha^-1 yr^-1 of N addition (N+), throughfall reduction plus N addition (TRN+) and natural forest (CK). The zero-tension pan lysimeter method was used to assess the response of soil N leaching loss to manipulated N addition and throughfall reduction. The results showed that the soil N leaching loss in natural forest was 5.0 ± 0.4 kg N ha^-1yr^-1, of which dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) accounted for 48%. Compared to natural forest, six years of N addition (NH₄NO₃, 50 kg N ha^-1 year^-1) significantly (P < 0.05) increased soil N leaching losses by 122%, especially in the form of NO₃^-; a 30% reduction in throughfall slightly decreased N leaching losses by 23%; in combination, N addition and throughfall reduction increased N leaching losses by 48%. There was a strong interaction between N addition and throughfall reduction, which decreased N leaching loss by approximately 2.5 kg N ha^-1 yr^-1. Our results indicated that drought would diminish the enhancing effect of N deposition on soil N leaching. These findings highlight the importance of incorporating both N deposition and precipitation and their impacts on soil N leaching into future N budget assessments of forest ecosystems under global environmental change.

Keywords: Global environmental change; Korean pine; N leaching; Two-factor interaction; Zero-tension pan lysimeter method.