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Response of Sphagnum papillosum and Drosera rotundifolia to reduced and oxidized wet nitrogen deposition

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journal contribution
posted on 2013-10-24, 14:43 authored by Jonathan MillettJonathan Millett, Ian D. Leith, Lucy J. Sheppard, Jason Newton
We transplanted Sphagnum 'turfs' containing abundant Drosera rotundifolia into an existing nitrogen deposition experiment at Whim Moss near Edinburgh. These mesocosms received simulated N deposition as either NH or NO , to give total N deposition rates of approximately 8, 16 or 32, or 64 kg N ha year . Simulated N deposition was added in a realistic way (i. e., with rainfall throughout the year). The δ N of this added N was elevated relative to background N. We measured the tissue chemistry and δ N of Sphagnum papillosum and D. rotundifolia over two years after transplant. Our aim was to determine uptake of the deposited N and the impact on S. papillosum tissue chemistry and D. rotundifolia tissue chemistry and ecology. We found clear, significant impacts of N deposition on S. papillosum, with increased capitula N content and reduced C:N ratio. Increased δ N indicated uptake of deposited N. The response of D. rotundifolia was less clear with impacts only at the highest rate of N deposition. There was no evidence of differential uptake of reduced or oxidized wet N deposition by either S. papillosum or D. rotundifolia. Using the natural abundance stable isotope method we estimated the minimum contribution of prey N to the total N in D. rotundifolia to be 35%. The results suggest that differences in the uptake of reduced or oxidized wet N deposition might not be ecologically significant when wet N deposition is added realistically. They also support the suggestion that a model of N dynamics in Sphagnum-dominated ecosystems that includes the role of Sphagnum as a small-scale ecosystem engineer, is required to predict vascular plant responses to N deposition accurately.

History

School

  • Social Sciences

Department

  • Geography and Environment

Citation

MILLETT, J ... et al, 2012. Response of Response of Sphagnum papillosum and Drosera rotundifolia to reduced and oxidized wet nitrogen deposition. Folia Geobotanica, 47 (2), pp.179-191.

Publisher

Springer Netherlands (© Institute of Botany, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic)

Version

  • AM (Accepted Manuscript)

Publication date

2012

Notes

The final publication is available at link.springer.com.

ISSN

1211-9520

eISSN

1874-9348

Language

  • en