Preliminary Response of Soil Fauna to Simulated N Deposition in Three Typical Subtropical Forests

A field-scale experiment arranged in a complete randomized block design with three N addition treatments including a control (no addition of N), a low N (5 g m-2 year-1), and a medium N (10 g m-2 year-1) was performed in each of the three typical forests, a pine (Pinus massoniana Lamb.) forest (PF), a pine-broadleaf mixed forest (MF) and a mature monsoon evergreen broadleaf forest (MEBF), of the Dinghushan Biosphere Reserve in subtropical China to study the response of soil fauna community to additions of N. Higher NH4+ and NO3- concentrations and a lower soil pH occurred in the medium N treatment of MEBF, whereas the NO3- concentration was the lowest in PF after the additions of N. The response of the density, group abundance and diversity index of soil fauna to addition of N varied with the forest type, and all these variables decreased with increasing N under MEBF but the trend was opposite under PF. The N treatments had no significant effects on these variables under MF. Compared with the control plots, the medium N treatment had significant negative effect on soil fauna under MEBF. The group abundance of soil fauna increased significantly with additions of higher N rates under PF. These results suggested that the response of soil fauna to N deposition varied with the forest type and N deposition rate, and soil N status is one of the important factors affecting the response of soil fauna to N deposition.

Responses of Soil Acid Phosphomonoesterase Activity to Simulated Nitrogen Deposition in Three Forests of Subtropical China

Soil acid phosphomonoesterase activity (APA) plays a vital role in controlling phosphorus (P) cycling and reflecting the current degree of P limitation. Responses of soil APA to elevating nitrogen (N) deposition are important because of their potential applications in addressing the relationship between N and P in forest ecosystems. A study of responses of soil APA to simulated N deposition was conducted in three succession forests of subtropical China. The three forests include a Masson pine (Pinus massoniana) forest (MPF)-pioneer community, a coniferous and broad-leaved mixed forest (MF)-transition community and a monsoon evergreen broad-leaved forest (MEBF)-climax community. Four N treatments were designed for MEBF: control (without N added), low-N (50 kg N ha-1 year-1), and medium-N (100 kg N ha-1 year-1) and high-N (150 kg N ha-1 year-1), and only three N treatments (i.e., control, low-N, medium-N) were established for MPF and MF. Results showed that soil APA was highest in MEBF, followed by MPF and MF. Soil APAs in both MPF and MF were not influenced by low-N treatments but depressed in medium-N treatments. However, soil APA in MEBF exhibited negative responses to high N additions, indicating that the environment of enhanced N depositions would reduce P supply for the mature forest ecosystem. Soil APA and its responses to N additions in subtropical forests were closely related to the succession stages in the forests.

Species Abundance in a Forest Community in South China：A Case of Poisson Lognormal Distribution

: Case studies on Poisson lognormal distribution of species abundance have been rare, especially in forest communities. We propose a numerical method to fit the Poisson lognormal to the species abundance data at an evergreen mixed forest in the Dinghushan Biosphere Reserve, South China. Plants in the tree, shrub and herb layers in 25 quadrats of 20 m× 20 m, 5 m× 5 m, and 1 m× 1 m were surveyed. Results indicated that: (i) for each layer, the observed species abundance with a similarly small median, mode, and a variance larger than the mean was reverse J-shaped and followed well the zero-truncated Poisson lognormal; (ii) the coefficient of variation, skewness and kurtosis of abundance, and two Poisson lognormal parameters (& and μ) for shrub layer were closer to those for the herb layer than those for the tree layer; and (iii) from the tree to the shrub to the herb layer, the α and the coefficient of variation decreased, whereas diversity increased. We suggest that: (i) the species abundance distributions in the three layers reflects the overall community characteristics; (ii) the Poisson lognormal can describe the species abundance distribution in diverse communities with a few abundant species but many rare species; and (iii) 1/α should be an alternative measure of diversity.

Nitrogen addition inhibits total monoterpene emissions in subtropical forest floor of South China

Monoterpenes(MTs)play crucial roles not only in atmospheric chemistry and global climate change but also in soil processes and soil ecology.Elevated nitrogen(N)deposition can influence soil microbial community and litter decomposition,and consequently alters MT fluxes from forest floors and litter.Yet,the responses of soil and litter MT to increased N deposition remain poorly understood and the influences of N addition are sometimes contradictory.In the present study,static chambers were placed in masson pine forest(PF)and in monsoon evergreen broad-leaf forest(BF)at Dinghushan,subtropical China.The preconcentrator-GC–MS was used to analyze the effect of N addition on MT fluxes from the forest floors and litter.The results showed that under control treatment(without N addition),the total MT emission rates were 279.90±137.17 and 102.70±45.36 pmol m^(–2)s^(–1) in the PF and BF floors,respectively,withα-pinene being the largest MT species in the PF and limonene in the BF.α-pinene andβ-pinene emission rates decreased significantly in both forest floors after N addition,whereas a diverse trend was found for limonene and camphene in the PF floor.Furthermore,some MT fluxes showed significant negative correlations with soil respiration and soil temperature.Litter was important in MT fluxes from forest floors and its emission rates were enhanced by N addition.Moreover,different MT response to elevated N was found between the forest floor and litter.This study indicated that the elevated N deposition in the future would inhibit the MT emissions from the subtropical forest floor.