Author ORCID Identifier
N/A
N/A
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7124-7893
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6561-3244
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2017
College/Unit
Eberly College of Arts and Sciences
Department/Program/Center
Geology and Geography
Abstract
Forests cover 30% of the terrestrial Earth surface and are a major component of the global carbon
(C) cycle. Humans have doubled the amount of global reactive nitrogen (N), increasing deposition of N onto forests worldwide. However, other global changes—especially climate change and elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations—are increasing demand for N, the element limiting primary productivity in temperate forests, which could be reducing N availability. To determine the long-term, integrated effects of global changes on forest N cycling, we measured stable N isotopes in wood, a proxy for N supply relative to demand, on large spatial and temporal scales across the continental U.S.A. Here, we show that forest N availability has generally declined across much of the U.S. since at least 1850 C.E. with cool, wet forests demonstrating the greatest declines. Across sites, recent trajectories of N availability were independent of recent atmospheric N deposition rates, implying a minor role for modern N deposition on the trajectory of N status of North American forests. Our results demonstrate that current trends of global changes are likely to be consistent with forest oligotrophication into theforeseeable future, further constraining forest C fixation and potentially storage.
Digital Commons Citation
McLauchlan, K K; Gerhart, L M; Battles, J J; Craine, J M; Elmore, A J; Higuera, P E; Mack, M C; McNeil, B E; Nelson, D M; Pederson, N; and Perakis, S S, "Centennial-scale reductions in nitrogen availability in temperate forests of the United States" (2017). Faculty & Staff Scholarship. 1551.
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/faculty_publications/1551
Source Citation
McLauchlan, K.K., Gerhart, L.M., Battles, J.J. et al. Centennial-scale reductions in nitrogen availability in temperate forests of the United States. Sci Rep 7, 7856 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-08170-z
Comments
Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Cre- ative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not per- mitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.