Nutrient Cycling in Forest Ecosystems

• Other Authors: Qualls, Robert G. (Editor)
• Format: Electronic Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Basel, Switzerland MDPI - Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute 2020
• Subjects: Research & information: general; Biology, life sciences; Forestry & related industries; leaf stoichiometry; Cyclocarya paliurus; geographic variations; natural populations; climate variables; nitrogen; phosphorus; N:P ratio; soil stoichiometry; soil nutrient; nutrient limitations; natural grassland; natural forest; soil fauna; N addition; soil profile; community structure; food resources; poplar plantations; experimental nitrogen addition; understory plant growth; plant nutrient; nonstructural carbohydrates; Alpine treeline; Nitrogen; Non-structural carbohydrates; Phosphorus; Potassium; Remobilization; Storage; Upper limits; nutrient resorption; nitrogen and phosphorous; planted forests; climate zones; plant functional types; precipitation; green leaf nutrient; nitrogen deposition; N and P colimitation; leaf N:P stoichiometry; soil N:P stoichiometry; seasonal variations; nutrition resorption; ecological stoichiometry; plant-soil feedback; stand age; Robinia pseudoacacia L.; forests; nutrients; disturbance; management; diversity; biomass; soil properties; experimental fires; UV-spectroscopy analysis; thermal infrared thermometer; nitrogen and phosphorus addition; understory plants; stoichiometric ratio; litter decomposition; litter standing crop carbon; conversion coefficient; climatic factors; Tibetan Plateau; shrublands; Cunninghamia lanceolata; mixture effect; nutrient cycling; rhizosphere effect; species competition
• Online Access: DOAB: download the publication; DOAB: description of the publication

The long-term productivity of forest ecosystems depends on the cycling of nutrients. The effect of carbon dioxide fertilization on forest productivity may ultimately be limited by the rate of nutrient cycling. Contemporary and future disturbances such as climatic warming, N-deposition, deforestation, short rotation sylviculture, fire (both wild and controlled), and the invasion of exotic species all place strains on the integrity of ecosystem nutrient cycling. Global differences in climate, soils, and species make it difficult to extrapolate even a single important study worldwide. Despite advances in the understanding of nutrient cycling and carbon production in forests, many questions remain. The chapters in this volume reflect many contemporary research priorities. The thirteen studies in this volume are arranged in the following subject groups: • N and P resorption from foliage worldwide, along chronosequences and along elevation gradients; • Litter production and decomposition; • N and P stoichiometry as affected by N deposition, geographic gradients, species changes, and ecosystem restoration; • Effects of N and P addition on understory biomass, litter, and soil; • Effects of burning on soil nutrients; • Effects of N addition on soil fauna.