Deepened snow enhances gross nitrogen cycling among Pan-Arctic tundra soils during both winter and summer
Many Arctic regions currently experience an increase in winter snowfall as a result of climate change. Deepened snow can enhance thermal insulation of the underlying soil during winter, resulting in warmer soil temperatures that promote soil microbial nitrogen (N)-cycle processes and the availabilit...
Published in: | Soil Biology and Biochemistry |
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Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10037/24316 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2021.108356 |
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ftunivtroemsoe:oai:munin.uit.no:10037/24316 2023-05-15T14:25:17+02:00 Deepened snow enhances gross nitrogen cycling among Pan-Arctic tundra soils during both winter and summer Xu, Wenyi Prieme, Anders Cooper, Elisabeth Mörsdorf, Martin Alfons Elberling, Bo Semenchuk, Philipp Grogan, Paul Ambus, Per Lennart 2021-07-10 https://hdl.handle.net/10037/24316 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2021.108356 eng eng Elsevier Soil Biology and Biochemistry Xu, Prieme, Cooper, Mörsdorf, Elberling, Semenchuk, Grogan, Ambus. Deepened snow enhances gross nitrogen cycling among Pan-Arctic tundra soils during both winter and summer. Soil Biology and Biochemistry. 2021 FRIDAID 1981533 doi:10.1016/j.soilbio.2021.108356 0038-0717 1879-3428 https://hdl.handle.net/10037/24316 openAccess Copyright 2021 The Author(s) Journal article Tidsskriftartikkel Peer reviewed publishedVersion 2021 ftunivtroemsoe https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2021.108356 2022-03-09T23:57:52Z Many Arctic regions currently experience an increase in winter snowfall as a result of climate change. Deepened snow can enhance thermal insulation of the underlying soil during winter, resulting in warmer soil temperatures that promote soil microbial nitrogen (N)-cycle processes and the availability of N and other nutrients. We conducted an ex situ study comparing the effects of deepened snow (using snow fences that have been installed for 3–13 years) on microbial N-cycle processes in late summer (late growing season) and winter (late snow-covered season) among five tundra sites in three different geographic locations across the Arctic (Greenland (dry and wet tundra), Canada (mesic tundra), and Svalbard, Norway (heath and meadow tundra)). Soil gross N cycling rates (mineralization, nitrification, immobilization of ammonium (NH 4 + ) and nitrate (NO 3 − ), and denitrification) were determined using a 15 N pool dilution. Potential denitrification activity (PDA) and nitrous oxide reductase activity (N2OR) were measured to assess denitrifying enzyme activities. The deepened snow treatment across all sites had a significant effect of the potential soil capacity of accelerating N cycling rates in late winter, including quadrupled gross nitrification, tripled NO 3 − -N immobilization, and doubled denitrification as well as significantly enhanced late summer gross N mineralization, denitrification (two-fold) and NH 4 + -N availability. The increase in gross N mineralization and nitrification rates were primarily driven by the availability of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and nitrogen (DON) across sites. The largest increases in winter DOC and DON concentrations due to deepened snow were observed at the two wetter sites (wet and mesic tundra), and N cycling rates were also more strongly affected by deepened snow at these two sites than at the three other drier sites. Together, these results suggest that the potential effects of deepened winter snow in stimulating microbial N-cycling activities will be most pronounced in relatively moist tundra ecosystems. Hence, this study provides support to prior observations that growing season biogeochemical cycles in the Arctic are sensitive to snow depth with altered nutrient availability for microorganisms and vegetation. It can be speculated that on the one hand growing season N availability will increase and promote plant growth, but on the other hand foster increased water- and gaseous (e.g. N 2 and N 2 O) N-losses with implications for overall nutrient status. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic Climate change Greenland Svalbard Tundra University of Tromsø: Munin Open Research Archive Arctic Svalbard Canada Greenland Norway Soil Biology and Biochemistry 160 108356 |
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Open Polar |
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University of Tromsø: Munin Open Research Archive |
op_collection_id |
ftunivtroemsoe |
language |
English |
description |
Many Arctic regions currently experience an increase in winter snowfall as a result of climate change. Deepened snow can enhance thermal insulation of the underlying soil during winter, resulting in warmer soil temperatures that promote soil microbial nitrogen (N)-cycle processes and the availability of N and other nutrients. We conducted an ex situ study comparing the effects of deepened snow (using snow fences that have been installed for 3–13 years) on microbial N-cycle processes in late summer (late growing season) and winter (late snow-covered season) among five tundra sites in three different geographic locations across the Arctic (Greenland (dry and wet tundra), Canada (mesic tundra), and Svalbard, Norway (heath and meadow tundra)). Soil gross N cycling rates (mineralization, nitrification, immobilization of ammonium (NH 4 + ) and nitrate (NO 3 − ), and denitrification) were determined using a 15 N pool dilution. Potential denitrification activity (PDA) and nitrous oxide reductase activity (N2OR) were measured to assess denitrifying enzyme activities. The deepened snow treatment across all sites had a significant effect of the potential soil capacity of accelerating N cycling rates in late winter, including quadrupled gross nitrification, tripled NO 3 − -N immobilization, and doubled denitrification as well as significantly enhanced late summer gross N mineralization, denitrification (two-fold) and NH 4 + -N availability. The increase in gross N mineralization and nitrification rates were primarily driven by the availability of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and nitrogen (DON) across sites. The largest increases in winter DOC and DON concentrations due to deepened snow were observed at the two wetter sites (wet and mesic tundra), and N cycling rates were also more strongly affected by deepened snow at these two sites than at the three other drier sites. Together, these results suggest that the potential effects of deepened winter snow in stimulating microbial N-cycling activities will be most pronounced in relatively moist tundra ecosystems. Hence, this study provides support to prior observations that growing season biogeochemical cycles in the Arctic are sensitive to snow depth with altered nutrient availability for microorganisms and vegetation. It can be speculated that on the one hand growing season N availability will increase and promote plant growth, but on the other hand foster increased water- and gaseous (e.g. N 2 and N 2 O) N-losses with implications for overall nutrient status. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Xu, Wenyi Prieme, Anders Cooper, Elisabeth Mörsdorf, Martin Alfons Elberling, Bo Semenchuk, Philipp Grogan, Paul Ambus, Per Lennart |
spellingShingle |
Xu, Wenyi Prieme, Anders Cooper, Elisabeth Mörsdorf, Martin Alfons Elberling, Bo Semenchuk, Philipp Grogan, Paul Ambus, Per Lennart Deepened snow enhances gross nitrogen cycling among Pan-Arctic tundra soils during both winter and summer |
author_facet |
Xu, Wenyi Prieme, Anders Cooper, Elisabeth Mörsdorf, Martin Alfons Elberling, Bo Semenchuk, Philipp Grogan, Paul Ambus, Per Lennart |
author_sort |
Xu, Wenyi |
title |
Deepened snow enhances gross nitrogen cycling among Pan-Arctic tundra soils during both winter and summer |
title_short |
Deepened snow enhances gross nitrogen cycling among Pan-Arctic tundra soils during both winter and summer |
title_full |
Deepened snow enhances gross nitrogen cycling among Pan-Arctic tundra soils during both winter and summer |
title_fullStr |
Deepened snow enhances gross nitrogen cycling among Pan-Arctic tundra soils during both winter and summer |
title_full_unstemmed |
Deepened snow enhances gross nitrogen cycling among Pan-Arctic tundra soils during both winter and summer |
title_sort |
deepened snow enhances gross nitrogen cycling among pan-arctic tundra soils during both winter and summer |
publisher |
Elsevier |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/10037/24316 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2021.108356 |
geographic |
Arctic Svalbard Canada Greenland Norway |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Svalbard Canada Greenland Norway |
genre |
Arctic Arctic Climate change Greenland Svalbard Tundra |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic Climate change Greenland Svalbard Tundra |
op_relation |
Soil Biology and Biochemistry Xu, Prieme, Cooper, Mörsdorf, Elberling, Semenchuk, Grogan, Ambus. Deepened snow enhances gross nitrogen cycling among Pan-Arctic tundra soils during both winter and summer. Soil Biology and Biochemistry. 2021 FRIDAID 1981533 doi:10.1016/j.soilbio.2021.108356 0038-0717 1879-3428 https://hdl.handle.net/10037/24316 |
op_rights |
openAccess Copyright 2021 The Author(s) |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2021.108356 |
container_title |
Soil Biology and Biochemistry |
container_volume |
160 |
container_start_page |
108356 |
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1766297713806147584 |