Nitrogen Fixation Responses in Sphagnum fuscum to N-Additions to an Alberta Peatland, 2012-2015

• Main Authors: R Kelman Wieder, Dale H Vitt, Melanie A Vile, Jeremy A Graham, Jeremy A Hartsock, Hope Fillingim, Melissa House, James C Quinn, Kimberli D Scott, Meaghan Petix, Kelly J McMillen
• Format: Dataset
• Language: unknown
• Published: Environmental Data Initiative 2019
• Subjects: Villanova Peatland Biogeochemistry Group; ARA; Acetylene Reduction Assay; bogs; peatland; nitrogen fixation; nitrogen deposition; Canada; Fort McMurray
• Online Access: https://pasta.lternet.edu/package/metadata/eml/edi/363/1

Development of the oil sands has led to increasing atmospheric N deposition, with values as high as 17 kg N ha -1 yr -1 ; regional background levels <2 kg N ha -1 yr -1 . Bogs, being ombrotrophic, may be especially susceptible to increasing N deposition. To examine responses to N deposition, over five years, we experimentally applied N (as NH 4 NO 3 ) to a bog near Mariana Lakes, Alberta, at rates of 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 kg N ha -1 yr -1 , plus controls (no water or N addition). We measured N 2 -fixation using the acetylene reduction technique between 2012 and 2015. All measurements were made between June and August. Mean acetylene reduction rates ranged from 2.2 mg m -2 da -1 (late June 2012) to 12.3 mg m -2 da -1 (late July 2014). Averaged across all measurement dates, rates were highest in the 5 kg N ha -1 yr -1 treatment, and decreased with increasing N loading. The acetylene reduction/N2 fixation response to N addition was described by a segmented linear regression, with rates increasing as N addition increased to 3.1 ± 1.5 kg N ha -1 yr -1 and decreasing with further increases in N addition. Water addition alone had no significant effect on N fixation rates on any of the measurement dates (p >= 0.79). While increasing N deposition may not substantively change total inputs of new N to bogs, the form on new N inputs shifts to inorganic N in deposition, rather than organic N produced by the microorganisms that are fixing N 2 .