Biogeochemical Hotspots in Forested Landscapes: The Role of Vernal Pools in Denitrification and Organic Matter Processing

Ecosystems

Volumn 17, Issue 8, 2014, Pages 1455-1468

  Capps, Krista A ^a   Rancatti, Regina ^a   Tomczyk, Nathan ^a   Parr, Thomas B ^a   Calhoun, Aram J K ^a   Hunter, Malcolm ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF MAINE   (United States)

Author keywords

biogeochemical hotspot; denitrification; ephemeral wetland; leaf litter decomposition; soil enzymes

Indexed keywords

BIOGEOCHEMISTRY; DECOMPOSITION; DENITRIFICATION; ENZYME ACTIVITY; EPHEMERAL POOL; FLOODING; LANDSCAPE ECOLOGY; LEAF LITTER; NUTRIENT DYNAMICS; ORGANIC MATTER;

NORTH AMERICA;

EID: 84920271004     PISSN: 14329840     EISSN: 14350629     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1007/s10021-014-9807-z     Document Type: Article

References (75)

1. Abenspergtraun M. 1993. A comparison of 2 methods for sampling assemblages of subterranean, wood-eating termites (Isoptera). Aust J Ecol 18:317–24.
2. Anderson JM. 1991. The effects of climate change on decomposition processes in grassland and coniferous forests. Ecol Appl 1:326–47.
3. APHA. 1998. Standard methods for the examination of water and waste water. Association APH editor. Washington, DC: American Water Works Association and Water Environment Federation. p 1268.
4. Baldwin DS, Rees GN, Mitchell AM, Watson G. 2005. Spatial and temporal variability of nitrogen dynamics in an upland stream before and after a drought. Mar Freshw Res 56:457–64.
5. Baron JS, Hall EK, Nolan BT, Finlay JC, Bernhardt ES, Harrison JA, Chan F, Boyer EW. 2013. The interactive effects of excess reactive nitrogen and climate change on aquatic ecosystems and water resources of the United States. Biogeochemistry 114:71–92.
6. Battle JM, Golladay SW. 2007. How hydrology, habitat type, and litter quality affect leaf breakdown in wetlands on the gulf coastal plain of Georgia. Wetlands 27:251–60.
7. Batzer DP, Palik BJ. 2007. Variable response by aquatic invertebrates to experimental manipulations of leaf litter input into seasonal woodland ponds. Fundam Appl Limnol 168:155–62.
8. Bell CW, Fricks BE, Rocca JD, Steinweg JM, McMahon SK, Wallenstein MD. 2013. High-throughput fluorometric measurement of potential soil extracellular enzyme activities. J Vis Exp. http://www.jove.com/video/50961/high-throughput-fluorometric-measurement-potential-soil-extracellular.
9. Benke AC, Hall CAS, Hawkins CP, Lowemcconnell RH, Stanford JA, Suberkropp K, Ward JV. 1988. Bioenergetic considerations in the analysis of stream ecosystems. J N Am Benthol Soc 7:480–502.
10. Bettez ND, Groffman PM. 2012. Denitrification potential in stormwater control structures and natural riparian zones in an urban landscape. Environ Sci Technol 46:10909–17.
11. Bischof MM, Hanson MA, Fulton MR, Kolka RK, Sebestyen SD, Butler MG. 2013. Invertebrate community patterns in seasonal ponds in minnesota, USA: response to hydrologic and environmental variability. Wetlands 33:245–56.
12. Blackwell MSA, Pilgrim ES. 2011. Ecosystem services delivered by small-scale wetlands. Hydrol Sci J 56:1467–84.
13. Boyer EW, Alexander RB, Parton WJ, Li CS, Butterbach-Bahl K, Donner SD, Skaggs RW, Del Gross SJ. 2006. Modeling denitrification in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems at regional scales. Ecol Appl 16:2123–42.
14. Brady NC, Weil RR. 2007. The nature and properties of soils. Lebanon: Prentice Hall.
15. Brooks RT. 2009. Potential impacts of global climate change on the hydrology and ecology of ephemeral freshwater systems of the forests of the northeastern United States. Clim Change 95:469–83.
16. Burt TP, Pinay G. 2005. Linking hydrology and biogeochemistry in complex landscapes. Prog Phys Geogr 29:297–316.
17. Calhoun A, deMaynadier PG. 2008. Science and conservation of vernal pools in northeastern North America. Boca Raton: CRC Press.
18. Calhoun AJK, Walls TE, Stockwell SS, McCollough M. 2003. Evaluating vernal pools as a basis for conservation strategies: a maine case study. Wetlands 23:70–81.
19. Capps KA, Graca MAS, Encalada AC, Flecker AS. 2011. Leaf-litter decomposition across three flooding regimes in a seasonally flooded Amazonian watershed. J Trop Ecol 27:205–10.
20. Cardinale BJ, Palmer MA, Swan CM, Brooks S, Poff NL. 2002. The influence of substrate heterogeneity on biofilm metabolism in a stream ecosystem. Ecology 83:412–22.
21. 2O production by soil at spring thaw. J Soil Sci 41:1–4.
22. Chrost RJ, Ed. 1991. Microbial enzymes in aquatic environments. New York: Springer.
23. Cisneros-Dozal LM, Trumbore SE, Hanson PJ. 2007. Effect of moisture on leaf litter decomposition and its contribution to soil respiration in a temperate forest. J Geophys Res Biogeosci 112:10.
24. Cornejo FH, Varela A, Wright SJ. 1994. Tropical forest litter decompositon under seasonal drought—nutrient release, fungi and bacteria. Oikos 70:183–90.
25. Cross WF, Benstead JP, Frost PC, Thomas SA. 2005. Ecological stoichiometry in freshwater benthic systems: recent progress and perspectives. Freshw Biol 50:1895–912.
26. Crous CJ, Samways MJ, Pryke JS. 2013. Exploring the mesofilter as a novel operational scale in conservation planning. J Appl Ecol 50:205–14.
27. David MB, Wall LG, Royer TV, Tank JL. 2006. Denitrification and the nitrogen budget of a reservoir in an agricultural landscape. Ecol Appl 16:2177–90.
28. Day FP. 1982. Litter decomposition rates in the seasonally flooded great dismal swamp. Ecology 63:670–8.
29. Earl JE, Semlitsch RD. 2012. Reciprocal subsidies in ponds: does leaf input increase frog biomass export? Oecologia 170:1077–87.
30. Earl JE, Semlitsch RD. 2013. Spatial subsidies, trophic state, and community structure: examining the effects of leaf litter input on ponds. Ecosystems 16:639–51.
31. Fenner N, Williams R, Toberman H, Hughes S, Reynolds B, Freeman C. 2011. Decomposition ‘hotspots’ in a rewetted peatland: implications for water quality and carbon cycling. Hydrobiologia 674:51–66.
32. Fernandez IJ. 2008. Carbon and nutrients in Maine forest soils. Station MAaFE editor. Technical Bulletin. Orono: Maine Agricultural and Forest Experiment Station.
33. Fisher SG, Likens GE. 1973. Energy flow in Bear Brook, New Hampshire-integrative approach to stream ecosystem metabolism. Ecol Monogr 43:421–39.
34. German DP, Chacon S, Allison SD. 2011. Substrate concentration and enzyme allocation can affect rates of microbial decomposition. Ecology 92:1471–80.
35. Glazebrook HS, Robertson AI. 1999. The effect of flooding and flood timing on leaf litter breakdown rates and nutrient dynamics in a river red gum (Eucalyptus camaldulensis) forest. Aust J Ecol 24:625–35.
36. Graca MAS, Ferreira RCF, Coimbra CN. 2001. Litter processing along a stream gradient: the role of invertebrates and decomposers. J N Am Benthol Soc 20:408–20.
37. Grimm NB, Gergel SE, McDowell WH, Boyer EW, Dent CL, Groffman P, Hart SC, Harvey J, Johnston C, Mayorga E, McClain ME, Pinay G. 2003. Merging aquatic and terrestrial perspectives of nutrient biogeochemistry. Oecologia 137:485–501.
38. Groffman PM, Hanson GC. 1997. Wetland denitrification: influence of site quality and relationships with wetland delineation protocols. Soil Sci Soc Am J 61:323–9.
39. Groffman PM, Hanson GC, Kiviat E, Stevens G. 1996. Variation in microbial biomass and activity in four different wetland types. Soil Sci Soc Am J 60:622–9.
40. Groffman P, Holland EA, Myrold DD, Robertson GP, Zou X. 1999. Denitrification. In: Robertson GP, Coleman DC, Bledsoe CS, Sollins P, Eds. Standard soil methods for long-term ecological research. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
41. Groffman PM, Altabet MA, Bohlke JK, Butterbach-Bahl K, David MB, Firestone MK, Giblin AE, Kana TM, Nielsen LP, Voytek MA. 2006. Methods for measuring denitrification: diverse approaches to a difficult problem. Ecol Appl 16:2091–122.
42. Groffman PM, Butterbach-Bahl K, Fulweiler RW, Gold AJ, Morse JL, Stander EK, Tague C, Tonitto C, Vidon P. 2009. Challenges to incorporating spatially and temporally explicit phenomena (hotspots and hot moments) in denitrification models. Biogeochemistry 93:49–77.
43. Harbott EL, Grace MR. 2005. Extracellular enzyme response to bioavailability of dissolved organic C in streams of varying catchment urbanization. J N Am Benthol Soc 24:588–601.
44. Harner MJ, Crenshaw CL, Abelho M, Stursova M, Shah JJF, Sinsabaugh RL. 2009. Decomposition of leaf litter from a native tree and an actinorhizal invasive across riparian habitats. Ecol Appl 19:1135–46.
45. Hill BH, Elonen CM, Jicha TM, Cotter AM, Trebitz AS, Danz NP. 2006. Sediment microbial enzyme activity as an indicator of nutrient limitation in Great Lakes coastal wetlands. Freshw Biol 51:1670–83.
46. Hill BH, Elonen CM, Seifert LR, May AA, Tarquinio E. 2012. Microbial enzyme stoichiometry and nutrient limitation in US streams and rivers. Ecol Ind 18:540–51.
47. Hunter ML Jr. 1991. Coping with ignorance: the coarse-filter strategy for maintaining biodiversity. Washington, DC): Island Press. pp 266–81.
48. Hunter ML. 2005. A mesofilter conservation strategy to complement fine and coarse filters. Conserv Biol 19:1025–9.
49. Inwood SE, Tank JL, Bernot MJ. 2007. Factors controlling sediment denitrification in midwestern streams of varying land use. Microb Ecol 53:247–58.
50. Jackson CR, Foreman CM, Sinsabaugh RL. 1995. Microbial enzyme activities as indicators of organic matter processing rates in a Lake Erie coastal wetland. Freshw Biol 34:329–42.
51. Kaspar HF. 1982. Denitrification in marine sediment—measurement of capacity and estimate of in situ rate. Appl Environ Microbiol 43:522–7.
52. Kelley RH, Jack JD. 2002. Leaf litter decomposition in an ephemeral karst lake (Chaney Lake, Kentucky, USA). Hydrobiologia 482:41–7.
53. Kirchman DL, Dittel AI, Findlay SEG, Fischer D. 2004. Changes in bacterial activity and community structure in response to dissolved organic matter in the Hudson River, New York. Aquat Microb Ecol 35:243–57.
54. Langhans SD, Tiegs SD, Uehlinger U, Tockner K. 2006. Environmental heterogeneity controls organic-matter dynamics in river-floodplain ecosystems. Pol J Ecol 54:675–80.
55. Langhans SD, Tiegs SD, Gessner MO, Tockner K. 2008. Leaf-decomposition heterogeneity across a riverine floodplain mosaic. Aquat Sci 70:337–46.
56. Lindquist ED, Foster DK, Wilcock SP, Erikson JS. 2013. Rapid assessment tools for conserving woodland vernal pools in the northern Blue Ridge Mountains. Northeastern Nat 20:397–418.
57. Lovett GM, Jones C, Turner MG, Weathers KC, Eds. 2005. Ecosystem function in heterogenous landscapes. New York: Springer.
58. McClain ME, Boyer EW, Dent CL, Gergel SE, Grimm NB, Groffman PM, Hart SC, Harvey JW, Johnston CA, Mayorga E, McDowell WH, Pinay G. 2003. Biogeochemical hot spots and hot moments at the interface of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Ecosystems 6:301–12.
59. Mulholland PJ, Hall RO, Sobota DJ, Dodds WK, Findlay SEG, Grimm NB, Hamilton SK, McDowell WH, O’Brien JM, Tank JL, Ashkenas LR, Cooper LW, Dahm CN, Gregory SV, Johnson SL, Meyer JL, Peterson BJ, Poole GC, Valett HM, Webster JR, Arango CP, Beaulieu JJ, Bernot MJ, Burgin AJ, Crenshaw CL, Helton AM, Johnson LT, Niederlehner BR, Potter JD, Sheibley RW, Thomas SM. 2009. Nitrate removal in stream ecosystems measured by N-15 addition experiments: denitrification. Limnol Oceanogr 54:666–80.
60. Oscarson DB, Calhoun AJK. 2007. Developing vernal pool conservation plans at the local level using citizen-scientists. Wetlands 27:80–95.
61. Ostojic A, Rosado J, Milisa M, Morais M, Tockner K. 2013. Release of nutrients and organic matter from river floodplain habitats: simulating seasonal inundation dynamics. Wetlands 33:847–59.
62. Palik B, Batzer D, Kern C. 2006. Upland forest linkages to seasonal wetlands: litter flux, processing, and food quality. Ecosystems 9:142–51.
63. Palmer MA, Febria CM. 2012. The heartbeat of ecosystems. Sci China C 336:1393–4.
64. Parkin TB. 1987. Soil microsites as a source of dentrification variability. Soil Sci Soc Am J 51:1194–9.
65. Paul MJ, Meyer JL, Couch CA. 2006. Leaf breakdown in streams differing in catchment land use. Freshw Biol 51:1684–95.
66. Petersen RC, Cummins KW. 1974. Leaf processing in a woodland stream. Freshw Biol 4:343–68.
67. Pribyl DW. 2010. A critical review of the conventional SOC to SOM conversion factor. Geoderma 156:75–83.
68. Reddy KR, Patrick WH. 1984. Nitrogen transformations and loss in flooded soils and sediments. CRC Crit Rev Environ Control 13:273–309.
69. Reddy KR, Kadlec RH, Flaig E, Gale PM. 1999. Phosphorus retention in streams and wetlands: a review. Crit Rev Environ Sci Technol 29:83–146.
70. Seitzinger S, Harrison JA, Bohlke JK, Bouwman AF, Lowrance R, Peterson B, Tobias C, Van Drecht G. 2006. Denitrification across landscapes and waterscapes: a synthesis. Ecol Appl 16:2064–90.
71. Sinsabaugh RL, Findlay S. 1995. Microbial production, enzyme activity, and carbon turnover in surface sediments of the Hudson River estuary. Microb Ecol 30:127–41.
72. Sinsabaugh RL, Hill BH, Follstad Shah JJ. 2009. Ecoenzymatic stoichiometry of microbial organic nutrient acquisition in soil and sediment. Nature 462:795–8.
73. Snodgrass JW, Komoroski MJ, Bryan AL, Burger J. 2000. Relationships among isolated wetland size, hydroperiod, and amphibian species richness: implications for wetland regulations. Conserv Biol 14:414–19.
74. Wieder WR, Cleveland CC, Townsend AR. 2009. Controls over leaf litter decomposition in wet tropical forests. Ecology 90:3333–41.
75. Yule CM, Gomez LN. 2009. Leaf litter decomposition in a tropical peat swamp forest in Peninsular Malaysia. Wetlands Ecol Manage 17:231–41.