Effect of ecosystem retrogression on stable nitrogen and carbon isotopes of plants, soils and consumer organisms in boreal forest islands
Abstract In the prolonged absence of catastrophic disturbance, ecosystem retrogression occurs, and this involves increased nutrient limitation, and reduced aboveground and belowground ecosystem processes rates. Little is known about how the nitrogen and carbon stable isotope ratios ( δ 15 N and δ 13...
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crwiley:10.1002/rcm.4095 2024-06-02T08:12:13+00:00 Effect of ecosystem retrogression on stable nitrogen and carbon isotopes of plants, soils and consumer organisms in boreal forest islands Hyodo, Fujio Wardle, David A. Vetenskapsrådet FORMAS The Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, Japan 2009 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/rcm.4095 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Frcm.4095 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/wol1/doi/10.1002/rcm.4095/fullpdf en eng Wiley http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry volume 23, issue 13, page 1892-1898 ISSN 0951-4198 1097-0231 journal-article 2009 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1002/rcm.4095 2024-05-03T10:59:27Z Abstract In the prolonged absence of catastrophic disturbance, ecosystem retrogression occurs, and this involves increased nutrient limitation, and reduced aboveground and belowground ecosystem processes rates. Little is known about how the nitrogen and carbon stable isotope ratios ( δ 15 N and δ 13 C) of plants, soils and consumer organisms respond to retrogression in boreal forests. We investigated a 5000 year chronosequence of forested islands in the boreal zone of northern Sweden, for which the time since lightning‐induced wildfire increases with decreasing island size, leading to ecosystem retrogression. For this system, tissue δ 15 N of three abundant plant species ( Betula pubescens , Vaccinium myrtillus and Pleurozium schreberi ) and humus all increased as retrogression proceeded. This is probably due to enhanced ecosystem inputs of N by biological fixation, and greater dependency of the plants on organic N during retrogression. The δ 13 C of B . pubescens and plant‐derived humus also increased during retrogression, probably through nutrient limitation increasing plant physiological stress. Unlike the plants, δ 15 N of invertebrates (lycosid spiders and ants) did not increase during retrogression, probably because of their partial dependence on aquatic‐derived prey that had a variable δ 15 N signature. The δ 13 C of the invertebrates increased as retrogression proceeded and converged towards that of an aquatic prey source (chironomid flies), suggesting increased dependence on aquatic‐derived prey during retrogression. These results show that measurement of δ 15 N and δ 13 C of plants, soils, and consumers across the same environmental gradient can provide insights into environmental factors that drive both the aboveground and belowground subsystems, as well as the linkages between them. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Article in Journal/Newspaper Northern Sweden Wiley Online Library Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry 23 13 1892 1898 |
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English |
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Abstract In the prolonged absence of catastrophic disturbance, ecosystem retrogression occurs, and this involves increased nutrient limitation, and reduced aboveground and belowground ecosystem processes rates. Little is known about how the nitrogen and carbon stable isotope ratios ( δ 15 N and δ 13 C) of plants, soils and consumer organisms respond to retrogression in boreal forests. We investigated a 5000 year chronosequence of forested islands in the boreal zone of northern Sweden, for which the time since lightning‐induced wildfire increases with decreasing island size, leading to ecosystem retrogression. For this system, tissue δ 15 N of three abundant plant species ( Betula pubescens , Vaccinium myrtillus and Pleurozium schreberi ) and humus all increased as retrogression proceeded. This is probably due to enhanced ecosystem inputs of N by biological fixation, and greater dependency of the plants on organic N during retrogression. The δ 13 C of B . pubescens and plant‐derived humus also increased during retrogression, probably through nutrient limitation increasing plant physiological stress. Unlike the plants, δ 15 N of invertebrates (lycosid spiders and ants) did not increase during retrogression, probably because of their partial dependence on aquatic‐derived prey that had a variable δ 15 N signature. The δ 13 C of the invertebrates increased as retrogression proceeded and converged towards that of an aquatic prey source (chironomid flies), suggesting increased dependence on aquatic‐derived prey during retrogression. These results show that measurement of δ 15 N and δ 13 C of plants, soils, and consumers across the same environmental gradient can provide insights into environmental factors that drive both the aboveground and belowground subsystems, as well as the linkages between them. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |
author2 |
Vetenskapsrådet FORMAS The Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, Japan |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Hyodo, Fujio Wardle, David A. |
spellingShingle |
Hyodo, Fujio Wardle, David A. Effect of ecosystem retrogression on stable nitrogen and carbon isotopes of plants, soils and consumer organisms in boreal forest islands |
author_facet |
Hyodo, Fujio Wardle, David A. |
author_sort |
Hyodo, Fujio |
title |
Effect of ecosystem retrogression on stable nitrogen and carbon isotopes of plants, soils and consumer organisms in boreal forest islands |
title_short |
Effect of ecosystem retrogression on stable nitrogen and carbon isotopes of plants, soils and consumer organisms in boreal forest islands |
title_full |
Effect of ecosystem retrogression on stable nitrogen and carbon isotopes of plants, soils and consumer organisms in boreal forest islands |
title_fullStr |
Effect of ecosystem retrogression on stable nitrogen and carbon isotopes of plants, soils and consumer organisms in boreal forest islands |
title_full_unstemmed |
Effect of ecosystem retrogression on stable nitrogen and carbon isotopes of plants, soils and consumer organisms in boreal forest islands |
title_sort |
effect of ecosystem retrogression on stable nitrogen and carbon isotopes of plants, soils and consumer organisms in boreal forest islands |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2009 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/rcm.4095 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Frcm.4095 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/wol1/doi/10.1002/rcm.4095/fullpdf |
genre |
Northern Sweden |
genre_facet |
Northern Sweden |
op_source |
Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry volume 23, issue 13, page 1892-1898 ISSN 0951-4198 1097-0231 |
op_rights |
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/rcm.4095 |
container_title |
Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry |
container_volume |
23 |
container_issue |
13 |
container_start_page |
1892 |
op_container_end_page |
1898 |
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1800758587504459776 |