Nitrogen sink in a small forested watershed of subtropical China
Laiming Huang , Jinling Yang , Ganlin Zhang
DOI:
Received April 15, 2010,Revised July 08, 2010, Accepted , Available online
Volume 23,2011,Pages 468-475
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Global nitrogen (N) emission and deposition have been increased rapidly due to massive mobilization of N which may have longreaching
impacts on ecosystems. Many agricultural and forest ecosystems have been identified as secondary N sources. In the present
study, the input-output budget of inorganic N in a small forested watershed of subtropical China was investigated. Inorganic N wet
deposition and discharge by stream water were monitored from March, 2007 to February, 2009. The concentrations and fluxes of
inorganic N in wet precipitation and stream water and net retention of N were calculated. Global N input by dry deposition and
biological fixation and N output by denitrification for forested watersheds elsewhere were reported as references to evaluate whether
the studied forested watershed is a source or a sink for N. The results show that the inorganic N output by the stream water is mainly
caused by NO3??-N even though the input is dominated by NH4
+-N. The mean flux of inorganic N input by wet precipitation and
output by stream water is 1.672 and 0.537 g N/(m2 yr), respectively, which indicates that most of inorganic N input is retained in the
forested watershed. Net retention of inorganic N reaches 1.135 g N/(m2 yr) considering wet precipitation as the main input and stream
water as the main output. If N input by dry deposition and biological fixation and output by denitrification are taken into account, this
subtropical forested watershed currently acts as a considerable sink for N, with a net sink ranging from 1.309 to 1.913 g N/(m2 yr)
which may enhance carbon sequestration of the terrestrial ecosystem.
