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Nitrogen availability in a grazed semi-arid grassland is dominated by seasonal rainfall

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Abstract

In semi-arid grassland ecosystems, soil biogeochemical processes are controlled by seasonal and inter-annual rainfall variation and temperature, which may override the long-term impact of grazers on N availability and N dynamics. In a three-year (2004–2006) case study of an Inner Mongolian grassland, we analysed time-integrated (ion-exchange resins) and instantaneous (soil mineral N extractions) inorganic N availability at three sites of varying grazing intensities and combined these data with information on soil water content (SWC), aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP) and plant N uptake. Additionally, the effects of rainfall and grazing on N-form availability (NO −3 -N, NH +4 -N) were considered. Grazing had less impact on N availability compared to seasonal and annual rainfall distribution. One of the three study years (2004) showed a grazing effect with higher resin-N availability at the ungrazed site compared to the heavily grazed site. Inorganic N availability was low in the driest year (2005) and highest in a year of average rainfall amount and favourable distribution (2004). In general, we found a positive relationship between inorganic N availability and both plant productivity and plant N uptake. Rainfall also controlled the plant available NO −3 -N and NH +4 -N pools; NH +4 -N dominated the available inorganic N-form in times of low SWC, while the available NO −3 -N increased with SWC. We observed N availability and plant productivity in a temporal synchronized pattern. Increased rainfall variability and land-use practices affecting SWC will likely alter N availability dynamics (and the relation of N-forms) and, therefore, important processes of semi-arid natural grassland carbon and N cycling.

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Acknowledgements

This work was part of the Sino-German research group MAGIM (Matter fluxes in grasslands of Inner Mongolia as influenced by stocking rate) financed by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), Sa-359/30-1, FG 536, and by the National Nature Science Foundation of China (NSFC, 40471077). We would like to thank IMGERS for providing meteorological data and Zhao Ying for providing soil water content data. The support of the GrassNet project financed by DAAD is gratefully acknowledged.

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Author notes

  1. Marcus Giese & Holger Brueck

    Present address: Department for Plant Production and Agroecology in the Tropics and Subtropics, Universität Hohenheim, Garbenstrasse 13, 70593, Stuttgart, Germany

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science, Christian-Albrechts-Universität, Hermann-Rodewald-Str. 2, 24118, Kiel, Germany

    Marcus Giese, Ying Zhi Gao & Holger Brueck

  2. Department of Plant Nutrition, China Agricultural University, Yuanmingyuan West Road 2, 100193, Beijing, China

    Marcus Giese & Shan Lin

  3. Key Laboratory of Vegetation Ecology, Northeast Normal University, 5268 Renmin Street, Changchun, Jilin, China

    Ying Zhi Gao

Authors
  1. Marcus Giese
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  2. Ying Zhi Gao
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  3. Shan Lin
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  4. Holger Brueck
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Correspondence to Shan Lin.

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Responsible Editor: Klaus Butterbach-Bahl.

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Giese, M., Gao, Y.Z., Lin, S. et al. Nitrogen availability in a grazed semi-arid grassland is dominated by seasonal rainfall. Plant Soil 340, 157–167 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-010-0509-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-010-0509-9

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