Does soil nitrogen availability mediate the response of grassland composition to water regime?

Journal of Vegetation Science

Volumn 24, Issue 3, 2013, Pages 506-517

  Araya, Yoseph N ^a   Gowing, David J ^a   Dise, N ^b  

^a OPEN UNIVERSITY   (United Kingdom)

^b MANCHESTER METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

Air filled pore space; Grassland composition; Ion exchange resin; Meadow vegetation; Microbial community composition; Nitrogen mineralization; Phospholipid fatty acids (PLFA)

Indexed keywords

FATTY ACID; FIELD SURVEY; ION EXCHANGE; MEADOW; MESOCOSM; MICROBIAL COMMUNITY; MINERALIZATION; NUTRIENT AVAILABILITY; PHOSPHOLIPID; PLANT COMMUNITY; PORE SPACE; RESIN; SOIL AIR; SOIL NITROGEN; SOIL WATER; SPECIES RICHNESS; WATER TABLE;

CRICKLADE; ENGLAND; UNITED KINGDOM; WILTSHIRE;

EID: 84875807332     PISSN: 11009233     EISSN: 16541103     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1654-1103.2012.01481.x     Document Type: Article

References (88)

1. Aerts, R. 1999. Interspecific competition in natural plant communities: mechanisms, trade-offs and plant-soil feedbacks. Journal of Experimental Botany 50: 29-37.
2. Araya, Y.N. 2005. Influence of soil-water regime on nitrogen availability and plant competition in wet-meadows. PhD thesis, The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK.
3. Araya, Y.N., Gowing, D. & Dise, N. 2010. A controlled water-table depth system to study the influence of fine-scale differences in water regime for plant growth. Aquatic Botany 92: 70-74.
4. Austin, M.P. 1990. Community theory and competition in vegetation. In: Grace, J.B. & Tilman, D. (eds.) Perspectives on plant competition, pp. 215-238. Academic Press Inc., San Diego, CA, US.
5. Ball, B.C. & Smith, K.A. 2001. Gas movement and air-filled porosity. In: Smith, K.A. & Mullins, C.E. (eds.) Soil and environmental analysis: physical methods. pp. 499-538. Marcel Dekker, New York, NY, US.
6. Balser, T.C. & Firestone, M.K. 2005. Linking microbial community composition and soil processes in a California annual grassland and mixed-conifer forest. Biogeochemistry 73: 395-415.
7. Barko, J.W. & Smart, R.M. 1978. The growth and biomass distribution of two emergent freshwater plants, Cyperus esculentus and Scirpus validus, on different sediments. Aquatic Botany 5: 109-117.
8. Berendse, F. 1983. Interspecific competition and niche differentiation between Plantago lanceolata and Anthoxanthum odoratum in a natural hayfield. Journal of Ecology 71: 379-390.
9. Berendse, F., Oomes, M., Altena, H. & Visser, W.D. 1994. A comparative study of nitrogen flows in two similar meadows affected by different groundwater levels. Journal of Applied Ecology 31: 40-48.
10. Binkley, D. & Matson, P. 1983. Ion exchange resin bag method for assessing forest soil nitrogen availability. Soil Science Society of America Journal 47: 1050-1052.
11. Binkley, D., Bell, R. & Sollins, P. 1992. Comparison of methods for estimating soil nitrogen transformations in adjacent conifer and alder-conifer forests. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 22: 858-863.
12. Brinson, M.M., Lugo, A.E. & Brown, S. 1981. Primary productivity, decomposition and consumer activity in freshwater wetlands. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 12: 123-161.
13. Broad, H.J. & Hough, M.N. 1993. The growing and grazing season in the United Kingdom. Grass and Forage Science 48: 26-37.
14. Campbell, C.A. & Paul, E.A. 1978. Effects of fertilizer N and soil moisture on mineralization, N recovery and A-values, under spring wheat grown in small lysimeters. Canadian Journal of Soil Science 58: 39-51.
15. Castelli, R.M., Chambers, J.C. & Tausch, R. 2000. Soil-plant relations along a soil water gradient in Great Basin riparian meadows. Wetlands 20: 251-266.
16. Chalmers, N. & Parker, P. 1989. The OU project guide: fieldwork and statistics for ecological projects, 2nd edn. Field Studies Council, Montford Bridge and The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK.
17. Council of European Communities (CEC) 1992. Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC): on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora. Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, Brussels, BE.
18. Critchley, C.N.R., Burke, M.J.W. & Stevens, D.P. 2003. Conservation of lowland semi-grasslands in the UK: a review of botanical monitoring results from agri-environment schemes. Biological Conservation 115: 263-278.
19. Cronk, J.K. & Fennessy, M.S. 2001. Wetland plants: biology and ecology. Lewis, Boca Raton, FL, US.
20. Davies, W.J. & Gowing, D.J.G. 1999. Plant responses to small perturbations in soil water status. In: Press, M.C., Scholes, J.D. & Barker, M.G. (eds.) Plant physiological ecology 39, pp. 67-89. Blackwell Science, Oxford, UK.
21. Dwire, K.A., Kauffman, J.B., Brookshire, E.N.J. & Baham, J.E. 2004. Plant biomass and species composition along an environmental gradient in montane riparian meadows. Oecologia 139: 309-317.
22. Dwire, K.A., Kauffman, J.B. & Baham, J.E. 2006. Plant species distribution in relation to water table depth and soil redox potential in montane riparian meadows. Wetlands 26: 131-146.
23. Ellenberg, H. 1954. Uber einige Fortschritte der kausalen Vegetationskunde. Vegetatio 5/6: 199-211.
24. Figiel, C.R., Collins, B. & Wein, G. 1995. Variation in survival and biomass of two wetland grasses at different nutrient and water levels over a six week period. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club 122: 24-29.
25. Frostegård, A., Baath, E. & Tunlid, A. 1993. Shifts in the structure of soil microbial communities in limed forests as revealed by phospholipid fatty acid analysis. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 25: 723-730.
26. Goldberg, D.E. 1990. Components of resource competition in plant communities. In: Grace, J.B. & Tilman, D. (eds.) Perspectives on plant competition, pp. 27-49. Academic Press, San Diego, CA, US.
27. Goncalves, J.L.M. & Carlyle, J.C. 1994. Modelling the influence of moisture and temperature on net nitrogen mineralization in a forested sandy soil. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 26: 1557-1564.
28. Gowing, D.J.G. & Spoor, G. 1998. The effect of water table depth on the distribution of plant species in lowland wet grassland. In: Bailey, R., Jose, P. & Sherwood, B. (eds.) UK floodplains, pp. 185-196. Westbury, Otley, UK.
29. Gowing, D.J.G. & Youngs, E.G. 1997. The effect of the hydrology of a Thames flood meadow on its vegetation pattern. In: Large, A.R.G. (ed.) Floodplain rivers: hydrological processes and ecological significance. BHS National Meeting, University of Birmingham, pp. 69-80. British Hydrological Society (Occasional Paper Series), Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK.
30. Gowing, D.J.G., Youngs, E.G., Gilbert, J.C. & Spoor, G. 1998. Predicting the effect of change in water regime on plant communities. In: Wheater, H. & Kirby, C. (eds.) Hydrology in a changing environment, Vol. I., pp. 473-483. John Wiley and Sons, Chichester, UK.
31. Gowing, D., Lawson, C., Youngs, E., Barber, K., Rodwell, J., Prosser, M., Wallace, H., Mountford, J. & Spoor, G. 2002. The water regime requirements and the response to hydrological change of grassland plant communities: DEFRA commissioned project BD1310, Final report to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Cranfield University, Silsoe, UK.
32. Grant, R.F. & Rochette, P. 1994. Soil microbial respiration at different water potentials and temperatures: theory and mathematical modelling. Soil Science Society of America Journal 58: 1681-1690.
33. Grootjans, A.P., Schipper, P.C. & Van der Windt, H.J. 1985. Influence of drainage on N-mineralization and vegetation response in wet meadows I. Calthion palustris stands. Acta Oecologica/Oecologia Plantarum 6: 403-417.
34. Güsewell, S., Bollens, U., Ryser, P. & Klötzil, F. 2003. Contrasting effects of nitrogen, phosphorus and water regime on first- and second-year growth of 16 wetland plant species. Functional Ecology 17: 754-765.
35. Hacin, J., Cop, J. & Mahne, I. 2001. Nitrogen mineralization in marsh meadows in relation to soil organic matter content and water table level. Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science 164: 503-509.
36. Hayati, A.A. & Proctor, M.C.F. 1990. Plant distribution in relation to mineral nutrient availability and uptake on a wet-heath site in south-west England. Journal of Ecology 78: 134-151.
37. Helmke, P.A. & Sparks, D.L. 1996. Lithium, sodium, potassium, rubidium and cesium. In: Sparks, D. (ed.) Methods of soil analysis: Part 3 - chemical methods: SSSA Book Series No.5, pp. 551-574. Soil Science Society of America & American Society of Agronomy, Inc., Madison, WI, US.
38. Hewitt, E.J. 1952. Sand and water culture methods used in the study of plant nutrition. Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux, Farnham Royal, UK.
39. Hill, M.O., Mountford, J.O., Roy, D.B. & Bunce, R.G.H. 1999. Ellenberg's indicator values for British plants: ECOFACT volume 2 technical annex. Institute of Terrestrial Ecology, Huntingdon, UK.
40. Hill, G.T., Mikowski, N.A., Aldrich-Wolfe, L., Emele, L.R., Jurkonie, D.D., Ficke, A., Maldonado-Ramirez, S., Lynch, S.T. & Nelson, E.B. 2000. Methods for assessing the composition and diversity of soil microbial communities. Applied Soil Ecology 15: 25-36.
41. Howard-Williams, C. 1985. Cycling and retention of nitrogen and phosphorus in wetlands: a theoretical and applied perspective. Freshwater Biology 15: 391-431.
42. Joyce, C.B. & Wade, P.M. 1998. European wet grasslands: biodiversity, management and restoration. John Wiley & Sons, Chichester, UK.
43. Lajtha, K., Driscoll, C.T., Jarrell, W.M. & Elliott, E.T. 1999. Soil phosphorus: characterization and total element analysis. In: Robertson, G.P., Coleman, D.C., Bledsoe, C.S. & Sollins, P. (eds.) Standard soil methods for long-term ecological research, pp. 462. Oxford University Press, New York, US.
44. Leffler, A.J., Monaco, T.A. & James, J.J. 2011. Nitrogen acquisition by annual and perennial grass seedlings: testing the roles of performance and plasticity to explain plant invasion. Plant Ecology 212: 1601-1611.
45. Levine, J.M., Brewer, J.S. & Bertness, M.D. 1998. Nutrients, competition and plant zonation in a New England salt marsh. Journal of Ecology 86: 285-292.
46. Lewis, O.A.M. 1986. Plants and nitrogen. Edward Arnold, London, UK.
47. Leyer, I. 2005. Predicting plant species' responses to river regulation: the role of water level fluctuations. Journal of Applied Ecology 42: 239-250.
48. McCrea, A.R., Trueman, I.C., Fullen, M.A., Atkinson, M.D. & Besenyei, L. 2001. Relationships between soil characteristics and species richness in two botanically heterogeneous created meadows in the urban English West Midlands. Biological Conservation 97: 171-180.
49. Mentzer, J., Goodman, R.M. & Balser, T.C. 2006. Microbial response over time to hydrologic and fertilization treatments in a simulated wet prairie. Plant and Soil 284: 85-100.
50. Miller, R.D. & Johnson, D.D. 1964. The effect of soil moisture tension on carbon dioxide evolution, nitrification, and nitrogen mineralization. Soil Science Society Proceedings 28: 644-647.
51. Myers, R.J.K., Campbell, C.A. & Weier, K.L. 1982. Quantitative relationship between net nitrogen mineralization and moisture content of soils. Canadian Journal of Soil Science 62: 111-124.
52. Neill, C. 1990. Effects of nutrients and water levels on emergent macrophyte biomass in a prairie marsh. Canadian Journal of Botany 68: 1007-1014.
53. Olde Venterink, H., Wassen, M.J., Belgers, J.D.M. & Verhoeven, J.T.A. 2001. Control of environmental variables on species density in fens and meadows: importance of direct effects and effects through community biomass. Journal of Ecology 89: 1033-1040.
54. Oomes, M., Olff, H. & Altena, H. 1996. Effects of vegetation management and raising the water table on nutrient dynamics and vegetation change in a wet grassland. Journal of Applied Ecology 33: 576-588.
55. Oomes, M.J.M., Kuikman, P.J. & Jacobs, F.H.H. 1997. Nitrogen availability and uptake by grassland in mesocosms at two water levels and two water qualities. Plant and Soil 192: 249-259.
56. Pakeman, R.J., Reid, C.L., Lennon, J.J. & Kent, M. 2008. Possible interactions between environmental factors in determining species optima. Journal of Vegetation Science 19: 201-208.
57. Patrick, W.H., Gambrell, R.P. & Faulkner, S.P. 1996. Redox measurements of soils. In: Sparks, D.L. (ed.) Methods of soil analysis: Part 3 - chemical methods: SSSA Book Series No.5, pp. 1255-1274. Soil Science Society of America and American Society of Agronomy, Inc., Madison, WI, US.
58. Paul, K.I., Polglase, P.J., O'Connel, A.M., Carlyle, J.C., Smethurst, P.J. & Khanna, P.K. 2003. Defining the relation between soil water content and net nitrogen mineralization. European Journal of Soil Science 54: 39-47.
59. Pawlett, M., Hopkins, D.W., Moffett, B.F. & Harris, J.A. 2009. The impact of earthworms and liming on soil microbial communities. Biology and Fertility of Soils 45: 361-369.
60. Pett-Ridge, J., Silver, W.L. & Firestone, M.K. 2006. Redox fluctuations frame microbial community impacts on N-cycling rates in a humid tropical soil. Biogeochemistry 81: 95-110.
61. Pywell, R.F., Bullock, J.M., Roy, D.B., Warman, L., Walker, K.J. & Rothery, P. 2003. Plant traits as predictors of performance in ecological restoration. Journal of Applied Ecology 40: 65-77.
62. Rebele, F. 2000. Competition and coexistence of rhizomatous perennial plants along a nutrient gradient. Plant Ecology 147: 77-94.
63. Rodwell, J.S. 1992. British plant communities. Vol. 3 grasslands and montane communities. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.
64. Rowe, E.C., Emmett, B.A., Smart, S.M. & Frogbrook, Z.L. 2011. A new net mineralizable nitrogen assay improves predictions of floristic composition. Journal of Vegetation Science 22: 251-261.
65. Runge, M. 1983. Physiology and ecology of nitrogen nutrition. In: Lange, O., Nobel, P., Osmond, C. & Ziegler, H. (eds.) Physiological plant ecology III. Responses to the chemical and biological environment, Vol 12C, pp. 163-200. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, DE.
66. Schaffers, A.P. 2000. In situ annual nitrogen mineralization predicted by simple soil properties and short-period field incubation. Plant and Soil 221: 205-219.
67. Schaminée, J.H.J., Stortelder, A.H.F. & Weeda, E.J. 1996. De Vegetatie van Nederland, Vol. 3. Opulus Press, Uppsala, SE.
68. Schimel, J.P. & Bennett, J. 2004. Nitrogen mineralization: challenges of a changing paradigm. Ecology 85: 591-602.
69. Sierra, J. 1997. Temperature and soil moisture dependence of N mineralization in intact soil cores. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 29: 1557-1563.
70. Silvertown, J., Dodd, M.E., Gowing, D.J.G. & Mountford, J.O. 1999. Hydrologically defined niches reveal a basis for species richness in plant communities. Nature 400: 61-63.
71. Sleutel, S., Moeskops, B., De Neve, S., Leroy, B., Vandenbossche, A., Vandenbruwane, J., Salomez, J. & Hofman, G. 2008. Modeling soil moisture effects on the evolution of mineral nitrogen concentrations in loamy wetland soils. Wetlands 3: 724-734.
72. Smilauerova, M. & Smilauer, P. 2006. Co-occurring graminoid and forb species do not differ in their root morphological response to soil heterogeneity. Folia Geobotanica 41: 121-135.
73. Stančić, Z. 2008. Classification of mesic and wet grasslands in northwest Croatia. Biologia 63: 1089-1103.
74. Stanford, G. & Epstein, E. 1974. Nitrogen mineralization - water relations in soils. Soil Science Society of America Proceedings 38: 103-107.
75. Taylor, S.A. 1952. Use of mean soil moisture tension to evaluate the effect of soil moisture on crop yields. Soil Science 74: 217-226.
76. Thompson, K., Parkinson, J.A., Band, S.R. & Spencer, R.E. 1997. A comparative study of leaf nutrient concentrations in a regional herbaceous flora. New Phytologist 136: 679-689.
77. Tjoelker, M.G., Craine, J.M., Wedin, D., Reich, P.B. & Tilman, D. 2005. Linking leaf and root trait syndromes among 39 grassland and savannah species. New Phytologist 167: 493-508.
78. Townend, J., Reeve, M.J. & Carter, A.. 2001. Water release characteristics. In: Smith, K.A. & Mullins, C.E. (eds.) Soil and environmental analysis: physical methods, pp. 95-140. Marcel Dekker, New York, NY, US.
79. UK Steering Group. 1995. Biodiversity: the UK Steering Group Report. HMSO, London, UK.
80. Van Oorschot, M., Gaalen, N.V., Maltby, E., Mockler, N., Spink, A. & Verhoeven, J.T. 2000. Experimental manipulation of water levels in two French riverine grassland soils. Acta Oecologica 21: 49-62.
81. Verhoeven, J.T.A., Koerselman, W. & Meuleman, A.F.M. 1996. Nitrogen- or phosphorus-limited growth in herbaceous, wet vegetation: relations with atmospheric inputs and management regimes. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 11: 494-497.
82. Vermeer, J.G. & Berendse, F. 1983. The relationship between nutrient availability, shoot biomass and species richness in grassland and wetland communities. Vegetatio 53: 121-126.
83. Wang, W.J., Chalk, P.M., Chen, D. & Smith, C.J. 2001. Nitrogen mineralisation, immobilisation and loss, and their role in determining differences in net nitrogen production during waterlogged and aerobic incubation of soils. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 33: 1305-1315.
84. Weiher, E., Forbes, S., Schauwecker, T. & Grace, J.B. 2004. Multivariate control of plant species richness and community biomass in blackland prairie. Oikos 106: 151-157.
85. Whalley, W.R., Lipiec, J., Stepniewski, W. & Tardieu, F. (2000). Control and measurement of the physical environment in root growth experiments. In: Smit, A.L., Bengough, A.G., Engels, C., van Noordwijk, M., Pellerin, S. & van de Geijn, S.C. (eds.) Root methods, pp. 75-112. Springer, Berlin, DE.
86. Willby, N.J., Murphy, K.J., Gilvear, D.J., Grieve, I.C. & Pulford, I.D. 1997. Hydrochemical-vegetation interactions on a Scottish floodplain mire. In: Large, A.R.G. (ed.) Floodplain rivers: hydrological processes and ecological significance. BHS National Meeting, University of Birmingham, pp. 40-52. British Hydrological Society (Occasional Paper Series). Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK.
87. Yu, S. & Ehrenfeld, J.G. 2010. Relationships among plants, soils and microbial communities along a hydrological gradient in the New Jersey Pinelands (USA). Annals of Botany 105: 185-196.
88. Zak, D.R., Holmes, W.E., MacDonald, N.W. & Pregitzer, K.S. 1999. Soil temperature, matric potential, and kinetics of microbial respiration and nitrogen mineralization. Soil Science Society of America Journal 63: 575-584.