Plant and soil nitrogen in oligotrophic boreal forest habitats with varying moss depths: does exclusion of large grazers matter?
Abstract The boreal forest consists of drier sunlit and moister-shaded habitats with varying moss abundance. Mosses control vascular plant–soil interactions, yet they all can also be altered by grazers. We determined how 2 decades of reindeer ( Rangifer tarandus ) exclusion affect feather moss ( Ple...
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2021
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00442-021-04957-0 https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s00442-021-04957-0.pdf https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00442-021-04957-0/fulltext.html |
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crspringernat:10.1007/s00442-021-04957-0 2023-05-15T18:04:24+02:00 Plant and soil nitrogen in oligotrophic boreal forest habitats with varying moss depths: does exclusion of large grazers matter? Väisänen, Maria Tuomi, Maria Bailey, Hannah Welker, Jeffrey M. UArctic Chairship University of Oulu including Oulu University Hospital 2021 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00442-021-04957-0 https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s00442-021-04957-0.pdf https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00442-021-04957-0/fulltext.html en eng Springer Science and Business Media LLC https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 CC-BY Oecologia volume 196, issue 3, page 839-849 ISSN 0029-8549 1432-1939 Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics journal-article 2021 crspringernat https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-021-04957-0 2022-01-04T16:18:47Z Abstract The boreal forest consists of drier sunlit and moister-shaded habitats with varying moss abundance. Mosses control vascular plant–soil interactions, yet they all can also be altered by grazers. We determined how 2 decades of reindeer ( Rangifer tarandus ) exclusion affect feather moss ( Pleurozium schreberi ) depth, and the accompanying soil N dynamics (total and dissolvable inorganic N, δ 15 N), plant foliar N, and stable isotopes (δ 15 N, δ 13 C) in two contrasting habitats of an oligotrophic Scots pine forest. The study species were pine seedling ( Pinus sylvestris L.), bilberry ( Vaccinium myrtillus L.), lingonberry ( V . vitis-idaea L.), and feather moss. Moss carpet was deeper in shaded than sunlit habitats and increased with grazer exclusion. Humus N content increased in the shade as did humus δ 15 N, which also increased due to exclusion in the sunlit habitats. Exclusion increased inorganic N concentration in the mineral soil. These soil responses were correlated with moss depth. Foliar chemistry varied due to habitat depending on species identity. Pine seedlings showed higher foliar N content and lower foliar δ 15 N in the shaded than in the sunlit habitats, while bilberry had both higher foliar N and δ 15 N in the shade. Thus, foliar δ 15 N values of co-existing species diverged in the shade indicating enhanced N partitioning. We conclude that despite strong grazing-induced shifts in mosses and subtler shifts in soil N, the N dynamics of vascular vegetation remain unchanged. These indicate that plant–soil interactions are resistant to shifts in grazing intensity, a pattern that appears to be common across boreal oligotrophic forests. Article in Journal/Newspaper Rangifer tarandus Springer Nature (via Crossref) Oecologia |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Springer Nature (via Crossref) |
op_collection_id |
crspringernat |
language |
English |
topic |
Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics |
spellingShingle |
Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics Väisänen, Maria Tuomi, Maria Bailey, Hannah Welker, Jeffrey M. Plant and soil nitrogen in oligotrophic boreal forest habitats with varying moss depths: does exclusion of large grazers matter? |
topic_facet |
Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics |
description |
Abstract The boreal forest consists of drier sunlit and moister-shaded habitats with varying moss abundance. Mosses control vascular plant–soil interactions, yet they all can also be altered by grazers. We determined how 2 decades of reindeer ( Rangifer tarandus ) exclusion affect feather moss ( Pleurozium schreberi ) depth, and the accompanying soil N dynamics (total and dissolvable inorganic N, δ 15 N), plant foliar N, and stable isotopes (δ 15 N, δ 13 C) in two contrasting habitats of an oligotrophic Scots pine forest. The study species were pine seedling ( Pinus sylvestris L.), bilberry ( Vaccinium myrtillus L.), lingonberry ( V . vitis-idaea L.), and feather moss. Moss carpet was deeper in shaded than sunlit habitats and increased with grazer exclusion. Humus N content increased in the shade as did humus δ 15 N, which also increased due to exclusion in the sunlit habitats. Exclusion increased inorganic N concentration in the mineral soil. These soil responses were correlated with moss depth. Foliar chemistry varied due to habitat depending on species identity. Pine seedlings showed higher foliar N content and lower foliar δ 15 N in the shaded than in the sunlit habitats, while bilberry had both higher foliar N and δ 15 N in the shade. Thus, foliar δ 15 N values of co-existing species diverged in the shade indicating enhanced N partitioning. We conclude that despite strong grazing-induced shifts in mosses and subtler shifts in soil N, the N dynamics of vascular vegetation remain unchanged. These indicate that plant–soil interactions are resistant to shifts in grazing intensity, a pattern that appears to be common across boreal oligotrophic forests. |
author2 |
UArctic Chairship University of Oulu including Oulu University Hospital |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Väisänen, Maria Tuomi, Maria Bailey, Hannah Welker, Jeffrey M. |
author_facet |
Väisänen, Maria Tuomi, Maria Bailey, Hannah Welker, Jeffrey M. |
author_sort |
Väisänen, Maria |
title |
Plant and soil nitrogen in oligotrophic boreal forest habitats with varying moss depths: does exclusion of large grazers matter? |
title_short |
Plant and soil nitrogen in oligotrophic boreal forest habitats with varying moss depths: does exclusion of large grazers matter? |
title_full |
Plant and soil nitrogen in oligotrophic boreal forest habitats with varying moss depths: does exclusion of large grazers matter? |
title_fullStr |
Plant and soil nitrogen in oligotrophic boreal forest habitats with varying moss depths: does exclusion of large grazers matter? |
title_full_unstemmed |
Plant and soil nitrogen in oligotrophic boreal forest habitats with varying moss depths: does exclusion of large grazers matter? |
title_sort |
plant and soil nitrogen in oligotrophic boreal forest habitats with varying moss depths: does exclusion of large grazers matter? |
publisher |
Springer Science and Business Media LLC |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00442-021-04957-0 https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s00442-021-04957-0.pdf https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00442-021-04957-0/fulltext.html |
genre |
Rangifer tarandus |
genre_facet |
Rangifer tarandus |
op_source |
Oecologia volume 196, issue 3, page 839-849 ISSN 0029-8549 1432-1939 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-021-04957-0 |
container_title |
Oecologia |
_version_ |
1766175780294885376 |