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Elevated Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide and Leaf Litter Chemistry: Influences on Microbial Respiration and Net Nitrogen Mineralization

School of Natural Resources & Environment, Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1115

Kurt S. Pregitzer

School of Forestry and Wood Products, Michigan Tech. Univ., Houghton, MI 49931

Peter S. Curtis

Dep. of Plant Biology, Ohio State Univ., Columbus, OH 43210

*Corresponding author (drzak{at}umich.edu).

ABSTRACT

Elevated atmospheric CO₂ has the potential to influence rates of C and N cycling in terrestrial ecosystems by altering plant litter chemistry and slowing rates of organic matter decomposition. We tested the hypothesis that the chemistry of leaf litter produced at elevated CO₂ would slow C and N transformations in soil. Soils were amended with Populus leaf litter produced under two levels of atmo-spheric CO₂ (ambient and twice-ambient) and soil N availability (low and high). Kinetic parameters for microbial respiration and net N mineralization were determined on soil with and without litter during a 32-wk lab incubation. Product accumulation curves for CO₂-C and inorganic N were fit to a first order rate equation [y = A(1 – e^–kt)] using nonlinear regression analyses. Although CO₂ treatment affected soluble sugar concentration in leaf litter (ambient = 120 g kg^–1, elevated = 130 g kg^–1), it did not affect starch concentration or C/N ratio. Microbial respiration, microbial biomass, and leaf litter C/N ratio were affected by soil N availability but not by atmospheric CO₂. Net N mineralization was a linear function of time and was not significantly different for leaves grown at ambient (50 mg N kg^–1) and elevated CO₂ (35 mg N kg^–1). Consequently, we found no evidence for the hypothesis that leaf litter produced at elevated atmospheric CO₂ will dampen the rates of C and N cycling in soil.

Received for publication July 31, 1995.

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