HR: 1330h
AN: B32B-0384    [PDF]
TI: Declines in Soil pH due to Anthropogenic Nitrogen Inputs Alter Buffering and Exchange Reactions in Tropical Forest Soils
AU: * Lohse, K A
EM: klohse@nature.berkeley.edu
AF: University of California, Berkeley, 151 Hilgard Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720 United States
AB: Anthropogenic nitrogen (N) inputs may alter tropical soil buffering and exchange reactions that have important implications for nutrient cycling, forest productivity, and downstream ecosystems. In contrast to relatively young temperate soils that are typically buffered from N inputs by base cation reactions, aluminum reactions may serve to buffer highly weathered tropical soils and result in immediate increases in aluminum mobility and toxicity. Increased nitrate losses due to chronic N inputs may also deplete residual base cations in already weathered base cation-poor soils, further acidify soils, and thereby reduce nitrate mobility through pH-dependent anion exchange reactions. To test these hypotheses, I determined soil pH and cation and anion exchange capacity (CEC and AEC) and measured base cation and aluminum soil solution losses following first-time and long-term experimental N additions from two Hawaiian tropical forest soils, a 300 year old Andisol and a 4.1 million year old Oxisol. I found that elevated base cation losses accompanied increased nitrate losses after first time N additions to the young Andisol whereas immediate and large aluminum losses were associated with increased nitrate losses from the Oxisol. In the long-term, base cation and aluminum losses increased in proportion to nitrate losses. Long-term N additions at both sites resulted in significant declines in soil pH, decreased CEC and increased AEC. These results suggest that even chronic N inputs resulting in small but elevated nitrate losses may deplete residual base cations, increase mobility and toxicity of aluminum, and potentially lead to declines in forest productivity and acidification of downstream ecosystems. These findings also suggest that AEC may provide a long-term mechanism to delay nitrate losses in tropical forests with significant variable charge that are experiencing chronic anthropogenic N inputs.
DE: 1600 GLOBAL CHANGE (New category)
DE: 4805 Biogeochemical cycles (1615)
SC: Biogeosciences [B]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting