Differences in decomposition among Sphagnum species in high N polluted summit bogs in the Czech Republic
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2012 |
| Type | Conference abstract |
| Citation | |
| Description | Bogs sink carbon as dead plant remnants in peat because of their specific conditions cause in extremely low decomposition rates. The global increase of atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition leads to changes in activity of decompositors, which is particularly visible in extremely nutrient poor ecosystems, commonly rely on atmospheric inputs as their sole sources of external nutrients. We had established transplant decomposition experiment in two high N polluted regions of central Europe, the Jizerské hory Mountains and the Jeseníky Mountains, differing in climate, nutrient conditions, and N deposition load. After one year of incubation, we observed differences in decay and changes in concentrations of nutrients for the three dominant Sphagnum species - S. fallax, S. magellanicum and S. russowii. The reciprocal litter transplants showed that differences in decay between species overruled the effects of origin and microhabitat of incubation. S. magellanicum decomposed slowest. A comparison of nutrient concentrations, nutrient losses, and decreases in biomass shows that potassium was the single from measured nutrients correlated with the total loss of litter as well as the most releasing nutrient during incubation. Using ion-exchange probes we found, that S. magellanicum is not able to take advantage of free ions of N, which is likely to lead to its competitive exclusion by S. fallax and S. russowii under conditions of high N load. Change in Sphagnum species composition in favor of those with more degradable tissues can lead to support decomposition of peat and the related inhibition growth of bogs in high N polluted areas. |
| Related projects: |