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Diversification of Nitrogen Sources in Various Tundra Vegetation Types in the High Arctic
Low nitrogen availability in the high Arctic represents a major constraint for plant growth, which limits the tundra capacity for carbon retention and determines tundra vegetation types. The limited terrestrial nitrogen (N) pool in the tundra is augmented significantly by nesting seabirds, such as t...
Autores principales: | , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Public Library of Science
2015
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4574312/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26376204 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0136536 |
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author | Skrzypek, Grzegorz Wojtuń, Bronisław Richter, Dorota Jakubas, Dariusz Wojczulanis-Jakubas, Katarzyna Samecka-Cymerman, Aleksandra |
author_facet | Skrzypek, Grzegorz Wojtuń, Bronisław Richter, Dorota Jakubas, Dariusz Wojczulanis-Jakubas, Katarzyna Samecka-Cymerman, Aleksandra |
author_sort | Skrzypek, Grzegorz |
collection | PubMed |
description | Low nitrogen availability in the high Arctic represents a major constraint for plant growth, which limits the tundra capacity for carbon retention and determines tundra vegetation types. The limited terrestrial nitrogen (N) pool in the tundra is augmented significantly by nesting seabirds, such as the planktivorous Little Auk (Alle alle). Therefore, N delivered by these birds may significantly influence the N cycling in the tundra locally and the carbon budget more globally. Moreover, should these birds experience substantial negative environmental pressure associated with climate change, this will adversely influence the tundra N-budget. Hence, assessment of bird-originated N-input to the tundra is important for understanding biological cycles in polar regions. This study analyzed the stable nitrogen composition of the three main N-sources in the High Arctic and in numerous plants that access different N-pools in ten tundra vegetation types in an experimental catchment in Hornsund (Svalbard). The percentage of the total tundra N-pool provided by birds, ranged from 0–21% in Patterned-ground tundra to 100% in Ornithocoprophilous tundra. The total N-pool utilized by tundra plants in the studied catchment was built in 36% by birds, 38% by atmospheric deposition, and 26% by atmospheric N(2)-fixation. The stable nitrogen isotope mixing mass balance, in contrast to direct methods that measure actual deposition, indicates the ratio between the actual N-loads acquired by plants from different N-sources. Our results enhance our understanding of the importance of different N-sources in the Arctic tundra and the used methodological approach can be applied elsewhere. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-4574312 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2015 |
publisher | Public Library of Science |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-45743122015-09-18 Diversification of Nitrogen Sources in Various Tundra Vegetation Types in the High Arctic Skrzypek, Grzegorz Wojtuń, Bronisław Richter, Dorota Jakubas, Dariusz Wojczulanis-Jakubas, Katarzyna Samecka-Cymerman, Aleksandra PLoS One Research Article Low nitrogen availability in the high Arctic represents a major constraint for plant growth, which limits the tundra capacity for carbon retention and determines tundra vegetation types. The limited terrestrial nitrogen (N) pool in the tundra is augmented significantly by nesting seabirds, such as the planktivorous Little Auk (Alle alle). Therefore, N delivered by these birds may significantly influence the N cycling in the tundra locally and the carbon budget more globally. Moreover, should these birds experience substantial negative environmental pressure associated with climate change, this will adversely influence the tundra N-budget. Hence, assessment of bird-originated N-input to the tundra is important for understanding biological cycles in polar regions. This study analyzed the stable nitrogen composition of the three main N-sources in the High Arctic and in numerous plants that access different N-pools in ten tundra vegetation types in an experimental catchment in Hornsund (Svalbard). The percentage of the total tundra N-pool provided by birds, ranged from 0–21% in Patterned-ground tundra to 100% in Ornithocoprophilous tundra. The total N-pool utilized by tundra plants in the studied catchment was built in 36% by birds, 38% by atmospheric deposition, and 26% by atmospheric N(2)-fixation. The stable nitrogen isotope mixing mass balance, in contrast to direct methods that measure actual deposition, indicates the ratio between the actual N-loads acquired by plants from different N-sources. Our results enhance our understanding of the importance of different N-sources in the Arctic tundra and the used methodological approach can be applied elsewhere. Public Library of Science 2015-09-16 /pmc/articles/PMC4574312/ /pubmed/26376204 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0136536 Text en © 2015 Skrzypek et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited. |
spellingShingle | Research Article Skrzypek, Grzegorz Wojtuń, Bronisław Richter, Dorota Jakubas, Dariusz Wojczulanis-Jakubas, Katarzyna Samecka-Cymerman, Aleksandra Diversification of Nitrogen Sources in Various Tundra Vegetation Types in the High Arctic |
title | Diversification of Nitrogen Sources in Various Tundra Vegetation Types in the High Arctic |
title_full | Diversification of Nitrogen Sources in Various Tundra Vegetation Types in the High Arctic |
title_fullStr | Diversification of Nitrogen Sources in Various Tundra Vegetation Types in the High Arctic |
title_full_unstemmed | Diversification of Nitrogen Sources in Various Tundra Vegetation Types in the High Arctic |
title_short | Diversification of Nitrogen Sources in Various Tundra Vegetation Types in the High Arctic |
title_sort | diversification of nitrogen sources in various tundra vegetation types in the high arctic |
topic | Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4574312/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26376204 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0136536 |
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