Carbon-nitrogen interactions in European forests and semi-natural vegetation - Part 1: Fluxes and budgets of carbon, nitrogen and greenhouse gases from ecosystem monitoring and modelling

Chris R. Flechard, Andreas Ibrom, Ute M. Skiba, Wim De Vries, Marcel Van Oijen, David R. Cameron, Nancy B. Dise, Janne F. J. Korhonen, Nina Buchmann, Arnaud Legout, David Simpson, Maria J. Sanz, Marc Aubinet, Denis Loustau, Leonardo Montagnani, Johan Neirynck, Ivan A. Janssens, Mari Pihlatie, Ralf Kiese, Jan SiemensAndre-Jean Francez, Jurgen Augustin, Andrej Varlagin, Janusz Olejnik, Radosław Juszczak, Mika Aurela, Daniel Berveiller, Bogdan H. Chojnicki, Ulrich Dammgen, Nicolas Delpierre, Vesna Djuricic, Julia Drewer, Eric Dufrene, Werner Eugster, Yannick Fauvel, David Fowler, Arnoud Frumau, Andre Granier, Patrick Gross, Yannick Hamon, Carole Helfter, Arjan Hensen, Laszlo Horvath, Barbara Kitzler, Bart Kruijt, Werner L. Kutsch, Raquel Lobo-Do-Vale, Annalea Lohila, Bernard Longdoz, Michal V. Marek, Giorgio Matteucci, Marta Mitosinkova, Virginie Moreaux, Albrecht Neftel, Jean-Marc Ourcival, Kim Pilegaard, Gabriel Pita, Francisco Sanz, Jan K. Schjoerring, Maria-Teresa Sebastia, Y. Sim Tang, Hilde Uggerud, Marek Urbaniak, Netty Van Dijk, Timo Vesala, Sonja Vidic, Caroline Vincke, Tamas Weidinger, Sophie Zechmeister-Boltenstern, Klaus Butterbach-Bahl, Eiko Nemitz, Mark A. Sutton

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

The impact of atmospheric reactive nitrogen (Nr) deposition on carbon (C) sequestration in soils and biomass of unfertilized, natural, semi-natural and forest ecosystems has been much debated. Many previous results of this dC=dN response were based on changes in carbon stocks from periodical soil and ecosystem inventories, associated with estimates of Nr deposition obtained from large-scale chemical transport models. This study and a companion paper (Flechard et al., 2020) strive to reduce uncertainties of N effects on C sequestration by linking multi-annual gross and net ecosystem productivity estimates from 40 eddy covariance flux towers across Europe to local measurement-based estimates of dry and wet Nr deposition from a dedicated collocated monitoring network. To identify possible ecological drivers and processes affecting the interplay between C and Nr inputs and losses, these data were also combined with in situ flux measurements of NO, N2O and CH4 fluxes; soil NO3 leaching sampling; and results of soil incubation experiments for N and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, as well as surveys of available data from online databases and from the literature, together with forest ecosystem (BASFOR) modelling. Multi-year averages of net ecosystem productivity (NEP) in forests ranged from 70 to 826 gCm2 yr1 at total wetCdry inorganic Nr deposition rates (Ndep) of 0.3 to 4.3 gNm2 yr1 and from 4 to 361 g Cm2 yr1 at Ndep rates of 0.1 to 3.1 gNm2 yr1 in short semi-natural vegetation (moorlands, wetlands and unfertilized extensively managed grasslands). The GHG budgets of the forests were strongly dominated by CO2 exchange, while CH4 and N2O exchange comprised a larger proportion of the GHG balance in short semi-natural vegetation. Uncertainties in elemental budgets were much larger for nitrogen than carbon, especially at sites with elevated Ndep where Nr leaching losses were also very large, and compounded by the lack of reliable data on organic nitrogen and N2 losses by denitrification. Nitrogen losses in the form of NO, N2O and especially NO3 were on average 27%(range 6 % 54 %) of Ndep at sites with Ndep < 1 gNm2 yr1 versus 65% (range 35 % 85 %) for Ndep > 3 gNm2 yr1. Such large levels of Nr loss likely indicate that different stages of N saturation occurred at a number of sites. The joint analysis of the C and N budgets provided further hints that N saturation could be detected in altered patterns of forest growth. Net ecosystem productivity increased with Nr deposition up to 2 2.5 gNm2 yr1, with large scatter associated with a wide range in carbon sequestration efficiency (CSE, defined as the NEP = GPP ratio). At elevated Ndep levels (> 2.5 gNm2 yr1), where inorganic Nr losses were also increasingly large, NEP levelled off and then decreased. The apparent increase in NEP at low to intermediate Ndep levels was partly the result of geographical cross-correlations between Ndep and climate, indicating that the actual mean dC=dN response at individual sites was significantly lower than would be suggested by a simple, straightforward regression of NEP vs. Ndep.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1583-1620
JournalBiogeosciences
Volume17
Issue number6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 26 Mar 2020
Externally publishedYes

Funding

Financial support. This research has been supported by the Acknowledgements. The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support by the European Commission through the two FP6 integrated projects CarboEurope Integrated Project (project no. GOCE-CT-2003-505572) and NitroEurope Integrated Project (project no. 017841), the FP7 ECLAIRE project (grant agreement no. 282910), and the ABBA COST Action ES0804. We are also thankful for funding from the French GIP-ECOFOR consortium under the F-ORE-T forest observation and experimentation network, as well as from the MDM-2017-0714 Spanish grant. We are grateful to Christian Bernhofer, Robert Clement, Han Dolman, Axel Don, Eric Dufrêne, Damiano Gianelle, Ruediger Grote, Anders Lindroth, John Moncrieff, Dario Papale, Corinna Rebmann and Alex Vermeulen for the data they provided, as well as to Klau-dia Ziemblińska for her comments on the paper. Computer time for EMEP model runs was supported by the Research Council of Norway through the NOTUR project EMEP (NN2890K). Finalization of the paper was supported by the UK Natural Environment Research Council award number NE/R016429/1 as part of the UK-SCAPE programme delivering national capability. We also wish to thank two anonymous referees for their constructive criticism of the paper. 1Institut National de la Recherche en Agriculture, Alimentation et Environnement (INRAE), UMR 1069 SAS, 65 rue de Saint-Brieuc, 35042 Rennes, France 2Department of Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Bygningstorvet, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark 3UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (UK CEH), Bush Estate, Penicuik, EH26 0QB, UK 4Wageningen University and Research, Environmental Systems Analysis Group, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA Wageningen, the Netherlands 5Department of Agricultural Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry, Environmental Soil Science, P.O. Box 56, 00014 University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland 6Institute for Atmospheric and Earth System Research/Forest Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry, P.O. Box 27, 00014 University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland 7Department of Environmental Systems Science, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, ETH Zurich, LFW C56, Universitatstr. 2, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland 8Institut National de la Recherche en Agriculture, Alimentation et Environnement (INRAE), BEF, 54000 Nancy, France 9EMEP MSC-W, Norwegian Meteorological Institute, Oslo, Norway 10Department of Space, Earth and Environment, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden 11Ikerbasque Foundation and Basque Centre for Climate Change, Sede Building 1, Scientific Campus of the University of the Basque Country, 48940, Leioa, Biscay, Spain 12TERRA Teaching and Research Centre, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, University of Liège, Gembloux, Belgium 13Bordeaux Sciences Agro, Institut National de la Recherche en Agriculture, Alimentation et Environnement (INRAE), UMR ISPA, Villenave d’Ornon, 33140, France 14Forest Services, Autonomous Province of Bolzano, Via Brennero 6, 39100 Bolzano, Italy 15Faculty of Science and Technology, Free University of Bolzano, Piazza Università 5, 39100 Bolzano, Italy 16Environment and Climate, Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO), Gaverstraat 35, 9500 Geraardsbergen, Belgium 17Department of Biology, Centre of Excellence PLECO (Plant and Vegetation Ecology), University of Antwerp, 2610 Wilrijk, Belgium 18Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research, Atmospheric Environmental Research (IMK-IFU), Kreuzeckbahnstr. 19, 82467 Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany 19Institute of Soil Science and Soil Conservation, iFZ Research Centre for Biosystems, Land Use and Nutrition, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Heinrich-Buff-Ring 26–32, 35392 Giessen, Germany 20University of Rennes, CNRS, UMR6553 ECOBIO, Campus de Beaulieu, 263 avenue du Général Leclerc, 35042 Rennes, France 21Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), Eberswalder Straße 84, 15374 Müncheberg, Germany 22A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119071, Leninsky pr.33, Moscow, Russia 23Department of Meteorology, Poznań University of Life Sciences, Piątkowska 94, 60-649 Poznań, Poland 24Department of Matter and Energy Fluxes, Global Change Research Centre, AS CR, v.v.i. Belidla 986/4a, 603 00 Brno, Czech Republic 25Department of Ecology and Environmental Protection, Laboratory of Bioclimatology, Poznań University of Life Sciences, Piatkowska 94, 60-649 Poznań, Poland 26Finnish Meteorological Institute, Climate System Research, PL 503, 00101, Helsinki, Finland 27Ecologie Systématique Evolution, Univ. Paris-Sud, CNRS, AgroParisTech, Université Paris-Saclay, 91400 Orsay, France 28Weststrasse 5, 38162 Weddel, Germany 29Air Quality Department, Meteorological and Hydrological Service, Gric 3, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia 30TNO, Environmental Modelling, Sensing and Analysis, Petten, the Netherlands 31Institut National de la Recherche en Agriculture, Alimentation et Environnement (INRAE), UMR1434 Silva, Site de Nancy, Rue d’Amance, 54280 Champenoux, France 32Greengrass – Atmospheric Environment Expert Ltd. fellowship, Kornélia utca 14/a, 2030 Érd, Hungary 33Federal Research and Training Centre for Forests, Natural Hazards and Landscape, Seckendorff-Gudent-Weg 8, 1131 Vienna, Austria 34Wageningen University and Research, P.O. Box 47, 6700AA Wageningen, the Netherlands 35Integrated Carbon Observation System (ICOS ERIC) Head Office, Erik Palménin aukio 1, 00560 Helsinki, Finland 36Centro de Estudos Florestais, Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Universidade de Lisboa, Tapada da Ajuda, 1349-017 Lisbon, Portugal 37Institute for Atmospheric and Earth System Research/Physics, Faculty of Science, P.O. Box 68, 00014 University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland 38Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, Axe Echanges Ecosystèmes Atmosphère, 8, Avenue de la Faculté, 5030 Gembloux, Belgium 39Global Change Research Institute, Academy of Sciences, Beˇlidla 4a, 603 00 Brno, Czech Republic 40National Research Council of Italy, Institute for Agriculture and Forestry Systems in the Mediterranean (CNR-ISAFOM), Via Patacca, 85, 80056 Ercolano (NA), Italy 41Department of Air Quality, Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute, Jeseniova 17, 83315 Bratislava, Slovakia 42Institute for Geosciences and Environmental research (IGE), UMR 5001, Université Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, IRD, Grenoble Institute of Technology, 38000 Grenoble, France 43NRE, Oberwohlenstrasse 27, 3033 Wohlen bei Bern, Switzerland 44CEFE, CNRS, Univ. Montpellier, Univ. Paul Valéry Montpellier 3, EPHE, IRD, Montpellier, France 45Mechanical Engineering Department, Instituto Superior Técnico (Technical University of Lisbon), Ave. Rovisco Pais, IST, 1049-001 Lisbon, Portugal 46Fundación CEAM, C/Charles R. Darwin, 46980 Paterna (Valencia), Spain 47Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Copenhagen, Thorvaldsensvej 40, 1871 Frederiksberg C, Denmark 48Laboratory of Functional Ecology and Global Change (ECOFUN), Forest Science and Technology Centre of Catalonia (CTFC), Carretera de Sant Llorenç de Morunys, 25280 Solsona, Spain 49Group GAMES & Department of Horticulture, Botany and Landscaping, School of Agrifood and Forestry Science and Engineering, University of Lleida, Av. Rovira Roure 191, 25198 Lleida, Spain 50Norsk institutt for luftforskning, Postboks 100, 2027 Kjeller, Norway 51Earth and Life Institute (Environmental sciences), Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium 52Department of Meteorology, Eötvös Loránd University, 1117 Budapest Pázmány Péter s. 1/A, Hungary 53Department of Forest and Soil Sciences, Institute of Soil Research, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna, Peter Jordan Str. 82, 1190 Vienna, Austria

FundersFunder number
ABBA COSTES0804
Academy of Sciences
Atmospheric Environment Expert Ltd.
CNR-ISAFOM
ECLAIRE
Geosciences and Environmental research
IGEUMR 5001
INRAEUMR1434
Institute for Agriculture and Forestry Systems in the Mediterranean
Netherlands 31Institut National de la Recherche en Agriculture, Alimentation et Environnement
NitroEurope Integrated Project
UK Natural Environment Research CouncilNE/R016429/1
Seventh Framework Programme282910
Institut de recherche pour le développement
Université Grenoble Alpes
European Commission
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Seventh Framework Programme
Sixth Framework ProgrammeGOCE-CT-2003-505572, 017841
Norges forskningsrådNN2890K
Universidade de Lisboa
Instituto Superior de Agronomia

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