Summary
To test for differing effects of plant species on nitrogen dynamics, we planted monocultures of five perennial grasses (Agropyron repens, Agrostis scabra, Poa pratensis, Schizachyrium scoparium, and Andropogon gerardi) on a series of soils ranging from sand to black soil. In situ net N mineralization was measured in the monocultures for three years. By the third year, initially identical soils under different species had diverged up to 10-fold in annual net mineralization. This divergence corresponded to differences in the tissue N concentrations, belowground lignin concentrations, and belowground biomasses of the species. These results demonstrate the potential for strong feedbacks between the species composition of vegetation and N cycling. If individual plant species can affect N mineralization and N availability, then competition for N may lead to positive or negative feedbacks between the processes controlling species composition and ecosystem processes such as N and C cycling. These feedbacks create the potential for alternative stable states for the vegetation-soil system given the same initial abiotic conditions.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Allen TFH, Hoekstra TW (1989) Comment on H.J. Carney —‘Competition and the integration of population, community and ecosystem studies’. Funct Ecol 3:642–643
Berendse F, Bobbink R, Rouwenhorst G (1989) A comparative study on nutrient cycling in wet heathland ecosystems. II. Litter decomposition and nutrient mineralization. Oecologia 78:338–348
Berg B, McClaugherty C (1989) Nitrogen and phosphorus release from decomposing litter in relation to the disappearance of lignin. Can J Bot 67:1148–1156
Binkley D, Hart SC (1989) The components of nitrogen availability assessments in forest soils. Adv Soil Sci 10:57–112
Buyanovsky GA, Kucera CL, Wagner GH (1987) Comparative analyses of carbon dynamics in native and cultivated ecosystems. Ecology 68:2023–2031
Campbell BD, Grime JP (1989) A comparative study of plant responsiveness to the duration of episodes of mineral nutrient enrichment. New Phytol 112:261–267
Carney HJ (1989) On competition and the integration of population, community and ecosystem studies. Funct Ecol 3:637–641
Chapin FS III (1980) The mineral nutrition of wild plants. Ann Rev Ecol Syst 11:233–260
Covington WW (1981) Changes in forest floor organic matter and nutrient content following clearcutting in northern hardwoods. Ecology 62:41–48
DeAngelis DL, Mulholland PJ, Palumbo AV, Steinman AD, Huston MA, Elwood JW (1989) Nutrient dynamics and food-wed stability. Ann Rev Ecol Syst 20:71–95
Flanagan PW, Van Cleve K (1983) Nutrient cycling in relation to decomposition and organic-matter quality in taiga ecosystems. Can J For Res 13:795–817
Gleeson SK, Tilman D (1990) Allocation and the transient dynamics of succession on poor soils. Ecology 71:1144–1155
Grime JP (1979) Plant Strategies and Vegetation Processes. Wiley, New York
Jackson LE, Strauss RB, Firestone MK, Bartolome JW (1988) Plant and soil nitrogen dynamics in California annual grassland. Plant Soil 110:9–17
Jenny H (1980) The Soil Resource. Springer, New York
McGraw JB, Chapin FS III (1989) Competitive ability and adaptation to fertile and infertile soils in two Eriophorum species. Ecology 70:736–749
Meentemeyer V (1978) Macroclimate and lignin control of litter decomposition rates. Ecology 59:465–472
Melillo JM, Aber JD, Muratore JF (1982) Nitrogen and lignin control of hardwood leaf litter decomposition dynamics. Ecology 63:621–626
Monk CD (1966) Ecological importance of root/shoot ratios. Bull Torrey Bot Club 93:402–406
Nadelhoffer KJ, Aber JD, Melillo JM (1983) Leaf-litter production and soil organic matter dynamics along a nitrogen-availability gradient in Southern Wisconsin (U.S.A.). Can J For Res 13:12–21
O'Neill RV, DeAngelis DL, Waide JB, Allen TFH (1986) A Hierarchical Concept of Ecosystems. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, USA
Pastor J, Aber JD, McClaugherty CA, Melillo JM (1984) Above-ground production and N and P cycling along a nitrogen mineralization gradient on Blackhawk Island, Wisconsin. Ecology 65:256–268
Pastor J, Post WM (1986) Influence of climate, soil moisture, and succession on forest carbon and nitrogen cycles. Biogeochemistry 2:3–27
Pastor J, Stillwell MA, Tilman D (1987a) Nitrogen mineralization and nitrification in four Minnesota old fields. Oecologia 71:481–485
Pastor J, Stillwell MA, Tilman D (1987b) Little bluestem litter dynamics in Minnesota old fields. Oecologia 72:327–330
Rice EL (1984) Allelopathy, 2nd ed. Academic Press, Orlando, FI, USA
Rice EL, Pancholy SK (1972) Inhibition of nitrification by climax ecosystems. Am J Bot 59:1033–1040
Robertson GP, Vitousek PM (1981) Nitrification potentials in primary and secondary succession. Ecology 62:376–386
Robertson GP (1982) Factors regulating nitrification in primary and secondary succession. Ecology 63:1561–1573
SAS (1988) SAS/STAT User's Guide, Release 6.03 Edition. SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC
Schimel DS (1986) Carbon and nitrogen turnover in adjacent grassland and cropland ecosystems. Biogeochemistry 2:345–357
Seastedt TR (1988) Mass, nitrogen, and phosphorus dynamics in foliage and root detritus in tallgrass prairie. Ecology 69:59–65
Taylor BR, Parkinson D, Parsons WFJ (1989) Nitrogen and lignin content as predictors of litter decay rates: a microcosm test. Ecology 70:97–104
Tilman D (1984) Plant dominance along an experimental nutrient gradient. Ecology 65:1445–1453
Tilman D (1987) Secondary succession and the pattern of plant dominance along experimental nitrogen gradients. Ecol Monogr 57:189–214
Tilman D (1988) Plant Strategies and the Dynamics and Structure of Plant Communities. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, USA
Tilman D (1990) Mechanisms of plant competition for nutrients: the elements of a predictive theory of competition. In: Grace JB, Tilman D (ed) Perspectives on Plant Competition, Academic Press, New York, pp 117–142
Tilman D, Wedin DA (1990a) Plant traits and resource reduction for five grasses growing on a nitrogen gradient. Ecology (in press)
Tilman D, Wedin DA, (1990b) Dynamics of nitrogen competition between successional grasses. Ecology (in press)
Van Soest PJ (1963) Use of detergents in the analysis of fibrous feeds. II. A rapid method for the determination of fiber and lignin. J Assoc Off Agric Chem 46:829
Vitousek PM (1982) Nutrient cycling and nutrient use efficiency. Am Nat 119:553–572
Vitousek PM, Matson PA, Van Cleve K (1989) Nitrogen availability and nitrification during succession: primary, secondary, and old-field seres. Plant Soil 115:229–239
Vitousek PM, Walker LR (1987) Colonization, succession and resource availability: ecosystem-level interactions. In: Gray AJ, Crawley MJ, Edwards PJ (eds) Colonization, Succession and Stability. Blackwell, Oxford, pp 207–224
Vitousek PM, Walker LR (1989) Biological invasion by Myrica faya in Hawaii: plant demography, nitrogen fixation, ecosystem effects. Ecol Monogr 59:247–265
Vitousek PM, Walker LR, Whiteaker LD, Mueller-Dombois D, Matson PA (1987) Biological invasion by Myrica faya alters ecosystem development in Hawaii. Science 238:802–804
Walter H (1979) Vegetation of the Earth and Ecological Systems of Geobiosphere, 2nd ed. Springer, New York
Wedin DA (1990) Nitrogen cycling and competition among grass species. Dissertation, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
Zak DR, Pregitzer KS, Host GE (1986) Landscape variation in nitrogen mineralization and nitrification. Can J For Res 16:1258–1263
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wedin, D.A., Tilman, D. Species effects on nitrogen cycling: a test with perennial grasses. Oecologia 84, 433–441 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00328157
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00328157