Distribution of soil nitrogen and nitrogenase activity in the forefield of a High Arctic receding glacier
ABSTRACT Glaciers retreating in response to climate warming are progressively exposing primary mineral substrates to surface conditions. As primary production is constrained by nitrogen (N) availability in these emerging ecosystems, improving our understanding of how N accumulates with soil formatio...
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/aog.2018.35 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0260305518000356 |
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crcambridgeupr:10.1017/aog.2018.35 2024-06-09T07:38:27+00:00 Distribution of soil nitrogen and nitrogenase activity in the forefield of a High Arctic receding glacier Turpin-Jelfs, Thomas Michaelides, Katerina Blacker, Joshua J. Benning, Liane G. Williams, James M. Anesio, Alexandre M. 2018 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/aog.2018.35 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0260305518000356 en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Annals of Glaciology volume 59, issue 77, page 87-94 ISSN 0260-3055 1727-5644 journal-article 2018 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1017/aog.2018.35 2024-05-15T13:03:09Z ABSTRACT Glaciers retreating in response to climate warming are progressively exposing primary mineral substrates to surface conditions. As primary production is constrained by nitrogen (N) availability in these emerging ecosystems, improving our understanding of how N accumulates with soil formation is of critical concern. In this study, we quantified how the distribution and speciation of N, as well as rates of free-living biological N fixation (BNF), change along a 2000-year chronosequence of soil development in a High Arctic glacier forefield. Our results show the soil N pool increases with time since exposure and that the rate at which it accumulates is influenced by soil texture. Further, all N increases were organically bound in soils which had been ice-free for 0–50 years. This is indicative of N limitation and should promote BNF. Using the acetylene reduction assay technique, we demonstrated that microbially mediated inputs of N only occurred in soils which had been ice-free for 0 and 3 years, and that potential rates of BNF declined with increased N availability. Thus, BNF only supports N accumulation in young soils. When considering that glacier forefields are projected to become more expansive, this study has implications for understanding how ice-free ecosystems will become productive over time. Article in Journal/Newspaper Annals of Glaciology Arctic Cambridge University Press Arctic Annals of Glaciology 59 77 87 94 |
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Open Polar |
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Cambridge University Press |
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crcambridgeupr |
language |
English |
description |
ABSTRACT Glaciers retreating in response to climate warming are progressively exposing primary mineral substrates to surface conditions. As primary production is constrained by nitrogen (N) availability in these emerging ecosystems, improving our understanding of how N accumulates with soil formation is of critical concern. In this study, we quantified how the distribution and speciation of N, as well as rates of free-living biological N fixation (BNF), change along a 2000-year chronosequence of soil development in a High Arctic glacier forefield. Our results show the soil N pool increases with time since exposure and that the rate at which it accumulates is influenced by soil texture. Further, all N increases were organically bound in soils which had been ice-free for 0–50 years. This is indicative of N limitation and should promote BNF. Using the acetylene reduction assay technique, we demonstrated that microbially mediated inputs of N only occurred in soils which had been ice-free for 0 and 3 years, and that potential rates of BNF declined with increased N availability. Thus, BNF only supports N accumulation in young soils. When considering that glacier forefields are projected to become more expansive, this study has implications for understanding how ice-free ecosystems will become productive over time. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Turpin-Jelfs, Thomas Michaelides, Katerina Blacker, Joshua J. Benning, Liane G. Williams, James M. Anesio, Alexandre M. |
spellingShingle |
Turpin-Jelfs, Thomas Michaelides, Katerina Blacker, Joshua J. Benning, Liane G. Williams, James M. Anesio, Alexandre M. Distribution of soil nitrogen and nitrogenase activity in the forefield of a High Arctic receding glacier |
author_facet |
Turpin-Jelfs, Thomas Michaelides, Katerina Blacker, Joshua J. Benning, Liane G. Williams, James M. Anesio, Alexandre M. |
author_sort |
Turpin-Jelfs, Thomas |
title |
Distribution of soil nitrogen and nitrogenase activity in the forefield of a High Arctic receding glacier |
title_short |
Distribution of soil nitrogen and nitrogenase activity in the forefield of a High Arctic receding glacier |
title_full |
Distribution of soil nitrogen and nitrogenase activity in the forefield of a High Arctic receding glacier |
title_fullStr |
Distribution of soil nitrogen and nitrogenase activity in the forefield of a High Arctic receding glacier |
title_full_unstemmed |
Distribution of soil nitrogen and nitrogenase activity in the forefield of a High Arctic receding glacier |
title_sort |
distribution of soil nitrogen and nitrogenase activity in the forefield of a high arctic receding glacier |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/aog.2018.35 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0260305518000356 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Annals of Glaciology Arctic |
genre_facet |
Annals of Glaciology Arctic |
op_source |
Annals of Glaciology volume 59, issue 77, page 87-94 ISSN 0260-3055 1727-5644 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/aog.2018.35 |
container_title |
Annals of Glaciology |
container_volume |
59 |
container_issue |
77 |
container_start_page |
87 |
op_container_end_page |
94 |
_version_ |
1801373032485224448 |