Intraseasonal variation in the δ15N signature of taiga trees and shrubs

1998 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 485-488 ◽  
Author(s):  
Knut Kielland ◽  
Bruce Barnett ◽  
Don Schell

We examined the stable isotope ratios of nitrogen from six dominant taiga species over three distinct phenological periods during the growing season. Temporal changes in the isotopic signature varied among species, but were not consistent within a given growth form. Despite large variation between nitrogen concentrations in new, mature, and senescent foliage, the seasonal fluctuations in δ15N were small with the exception of aspen, a tree species growing on the most fertile sites. In the absence of strong within-season variation in isotope signature, we conclude that this parameter reasonably well integrates the plant-nitrogen relations over the growing season for most species, with the caveat that this parameter may show significant temporal variation in species from high-nitrogen environments. We found a significant, positive relationship between nitrogen concentration and δ15N values in mature and newly flushed foliage, suggesting that plant enrichment in δ15N is associated with increased soil nitrogen turnover.

1982 ◽  
Vol 28 (8) ◽  
pp. 959-975 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin R. Bell ◽  
Maxine A. Holder-Franklin ◽  
Mervyn Franklin

Forty-eight continuous culture enrichments were performed on summer and winter water samples from two contrasting rivers. The cell output from each chemostat was dependant on the temperature and nitrogen concentration of each enrichment. The diversity of the populations from the continuous cultures, as assessed by species diversity analysis, was always greater than populations obtained on agar plates. However, the species isolated exclusively by continuous culture in these experiments were not unique to the chemostat. All of these species had been isolated at some time on plates directly. High nitrogen concentrations were found to decrease diversity. Populations sampled during the winter were influenced primarily by the concentration of nitrogen. Summer isolates were affected mainly by the temperature of the culture medium. The nutritional versatility of the population was not affected by enrichment of the continuous culture.


1985 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 537 ◽  
Author(s):  
JF Angus ◽  
MW Moncur

Wheat plants were grown in culture solutions differing in nitrogen concentration and transferred between the solutions at the time of floral initiation. Rates of growth and development were expressed in relation to the nitrogen concentrations of the whole plants. Growth rate increased and developmental rate decreased with increased plant nitrogen concentration, the extent depending on the developmental stage when the nitrogen was supplied, the duration of supply, and the concentration of nitrogen in the solution. Simple dynamic models fitted to the data accounted for 97% of the variation in observed biomass and 93% of the variation in rate of development. The models are based on a concept of relative nitrogen concentration, an expression of the actual nitrogen concentration of the plant in relation to the maximum and minimum possible nitrogen concentrations at a particular developmental stage. The models suggest possibilities for calculating the growth response to nitrogen fertilizer applied at any time during the development of a crop.


1990 ◽  
Vol 17 (5) ◽  
pp. 503 ◽  
Author(s):  
RN Cromer ◽  
PG Jarvis

Seedlings of Eucalyptus grandis were grown using an aeroponic culture technique in which continuously circulating solution was sprayed over seedling roots. Nutrient solutions, made up so that nitrogen was the element limiting growth, were added hourly at relative addition rates between 0.04 and 0.12 d-1. This technique enabled stable seedling nitrogen concentrations and relative growth rates to be maintained during experimental periods of 40-80 days in most treatments. Once steady state growth was established, allocation of dry matter to stems compared with foliage increased with ontogeny and the allometric relationship was not influenced by plant nitrogen status or genotype. In contast, the intercept of the allometric relationship between root mass and foliage mass was dependent on plant nitrogen concentration, but the slope was equal to unity at all nitrogen concentrations. Our data indicate that nitrogen-induced changes in allocation of dry matter between foliage and root components, together with changes in specific leaf area, had a larger influence on seedling growth rate than did changes in net rate of carbon gain per unit leaf area.


1974 ◽  
Vol 14 (67) ◽  
pp. 241 ◽  
Author(s):  
AC Taylor ◽  
RR Storrier ◽  
AR Gilmour

A four year study of the relations between wheat yields and various edaphic, cultural and climatic factors in the wheat belt of southern New South Wales indicated that seasonal rainfall was the major source of yield variation. A regression equation involving pre-sowing (January to April) and growing season (May to September) rain, soil nitrate nitrogen concentration (0-30 cm), average annual rainfall, sowing time and weed density proved to be the most useful function for predicting yield (R2 = 0.613). Equations relating expected grain yields to soil nitrate nitrogen concentrations were derived for a combination of average annual rainfall and pre-sowing and growing season rainfall conditions. These show that, under optimum rainfall conditions, soil nitrate levels would restrict yields on most farms, wherever nitrate concentrations in the surface 30 cm fell below 20 p.p.m.


Author(s):  
Ankica Sarajlić ◽  
Emilija Raspudić ◽  
Zdenko Lončarić ◽  
Marko Josipović ◽  
Ivana Majić

European corn borer (ECB) creates tunnels inside the plant stalks, causing damage, which could significantly decrease yield loss. This study aimed to determine the relationship between damage caused by ECB larval feeding and different irrigation and nitrogen fertilization rates on different maize genotypes. We conducted a field experiment in Croatia from 2012 to 2014. Increased plant nitrogen adsorption was observed under irrigation only in drought years, and it was decreased in optimal or extremely wet years. We found a weak or a moderate relationship between ECB damage and nitrogen concentration, but the greatest ECB damage was in all years recorded in treatments with the highest fertilization rates. However, the highest plant nitrogen concentration was observed in the hybrid with the lowest damage from ECB larvae. The maize damage caused by ECB larval feeding was negatively affected by high plant nitrogen concentrations only when plants were under drought stress. Nitrogen uptake was increased in irrigated plots. We did not find a strong relationship between the C/N ratio or irrigation and intensity of ECB damage. In 2012, when the narrowest C/N ratio was calculated, the greatest damage by ECB was measured. Further studies are needed since we detected the significant impact of drought on intensive ECB larval feeding.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carmen Gloria Ossa ◽  
Daniela Aros-Mualin ◽  
María Isabel Mujica ◽  
Fernanda Pérez

Echinopsis chiloensis is an endemic cactus from Chile, distributed in a temperature and rainfall gradient between 30° and 35° South latitude, with mean temperatures increasing and precipitation decreasing toward the north. It is the main host of the mistletoe Tristerix aphyllus, a holoparasite completely dependent on the cactus for water, carbon, and minerals. In this study, we investigated the consequences of parasitism over the fitness and physiology of this cactus throughout its distribution range and how it is affected by the environment. We measured five functional traits in eight populations latitudinally distributed, the first three only for the host: reproductive fitness, stomatal traits (density and size), and photosynthesis (during winter and summer); and the last two for the host and parasite: stable isotopes (∂13C and ∂15N), and nutrients (carbon and nitrogen content). The results showed a negative effect of parasitism over fitness of infected cacti. However, the higher nitrogen concentrations in cactus tissues toward the south improved overall fitness. Regarding photosynthesis, we only observed a negative effect of parasitism during the dry season (summer), which is also negatively affected by the increase in summer temperatures and decrease in winter rainfall toward the north. There were no differences in nutrient concentration or in the isotopic signature of healthy and infected cacti. Conversely, we observed a higher carbon and lower nitrogen concentration in mistletoes than in cacti regardless of latitude. The loss of temperature seasonality toward the north increases the C:N ratio, and the values between the parasite and its host diverge. ∂15N was similar between parasites and hosts while ∂13C of the parasite was enriched when compared to its host. Overall, the infection by T. aphyllus affects Echinopsis chiloensis fitness but showed no strong effects over the cactus physiology, except for the summer photosynthesis. Therefore, our data revealed that E. chiloensis response to T. aphyllus infection is sensitive to environmental changes in a way that could be strongly impacted by the desertification projected for this area due to climate change.


1994 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 399-416 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barrios E. ◽  
Herrera R.

ABSTRACTSeasonally flooded forests represent a transition between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. The Mapire river, a tributary of the Orinoco river, floods its surrounding forests during the wet season (May–December). The soils are very acid and the total nitrogen concentration (0.1%) is only half that found in nearby soils flooded by Orinoco waters. Ammonium-nitrogen predominates in the soil during the flooded period while nitrate-nitrogen concentrations are higher in the dry period. Wide fluctuations in the inorganic nitrogen fractions did not considerably affect the annual course of soil nitrogen.The predominance of mineralization versus nitrification (56 and 5 μgsoil month−1respectively) and possibly the synchronization of nitrogen availability with plant demand could be considered as nitrogen conserving mechanisms.In synchrony with the hydrologic cycle, the seasonally flooded forest studied shows a nitrogencycle where inputs and accumulation are maximized when the system is under minimum stress (dry season). During flooding, the system enters a period of dormancy making minimal use of nutrient and energy to avoid or tolerate anaerobiosis.


2013 ◽  
Vol 80 (2) ◽  
pp. 704-713 ◽  
Author(s):  
Estéfani García-Ríos ◽  
Alicia Gutiérrez ◽  
Zoel Salvadó ◽  
Francisco Noé Arroyo-López ◽  
José Manuel Guillamon

ABSTRACTThe effect of the main environmental factors governing wine fermentation on the fitness of industrial yeast strains has barely received attention. In this study, we used the concept of fitness advantage to measure how increasing nitrogen concentrations (0 to 200 mg N/liter), ethanol (0 to 20%), and temperature (4 to 45°C) affects competition among four commercial wine yeast strains (PDM, ARM, RVA, and TTA). We used a mathematical approach to model the hypothetical time needed for the control strain (PDM) to out-compete the other three strains in a theoretical mixed population. The theoretical values obtained were subsequently verified by competitive mixed fermentations in both synthetic and natural musts, which showed a good fit between the theoretical and experimental data. Specifically, the data show that the increase in nitrogen concentration and temperature values improved the fitness advantage of the PDM strain, whereas the presence of ethanol significantly reduced its competitiveness. However, the RVA strain proved to be the most competitive yeast for the three enological parameters assayed. The study of the fitness of these industrial strains is of paramount interest for the wine industry, which uses them as starters of their fermentations. Here, we propose a very simple method to model the fitness advantage, which allows the prediction of the competitiveness of one strain with respect to different abiotic factors.


1992 ◽  
Vol 22 (8) ◽  
pp. 1089-1093 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Trowbridge ◽  
F.B. Holl

An overdense lodgepole pine (Pinuscontorta Dougl. ex Loud.) stand was knocked down and the site was prepared by broadcast burn, windrow burn, or mechanical forest floor removal. Inoculated alsike clover (Trifoliumhybridum L.) was seeded at 0, 10, 20, and 30 kg/ha for the three different site preparation treatments to determine the effects of (i) site preparation on infection and effectiveness of the clover–Rhizobium symbiosis and clover percent cover and (ii) the clover–Rhizobium N2-fixing symbiosis on survival, early growth, and foliar nitrogen concentration of lodgepole pine seedlings. The N2-fixing symbiosis established well in all treatments. Clover percent cover increased with increasing rate of seeding, although by relatively few percent in the clover seeded plots. Broadcast burning, windrow burning, and mechanical forest floor removal did not affect the establishment of the N2-fixing symbiosis or clover percent cover. Lodgepole pine survival was not affected by the seeding treatments in any year, nor were height measurements during the first three growing seasons. Seedling height was slightly less in clover-seeded plots compared with controls in the fourth growing season. Lodgepole pine seedlings on clover-seeded plots had decreased diameter growth compared with controls during the first three growing seasons, but incremental diameter growth no longer showed this effect by the fourth growing season. Needle mass (g/100 needles) was less in clover-seeded plots at the end of the second growing season, but this effect was reversed by the fourth growing season, when both needle mass and foliar nitrogen concentration in lodgepole pine foliage were greater in clover-seeded plots.


Bragantia ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 71 (3) ◽  
pp. 394-399 ◽  
Author(s):  
Djeimi Isabel Janisch ◽  
Jerônimo Luiz Andriolo ◽  
Vinícius Toso ◽  
Kamila Gabriele Ferreira dos Santos ◽  
Jéssica Maronez de Souza

The objective of this research was to determine growth and dry matter partitioning among organs of strawberry stock plants under five Nitrogen concentrations in the nutrient solution and its effects on emission and growth of runner tips. The experiment was carried out under greenhouse conditions, from September 2010 to March 2011, in a soilless system with Oso Grande and Camino Real cultivars. Nitrogen concentrations of 5.12, 7.6, 10.12 (control), 12.62 and 15.12 mmol L-1 in the nutrient solution were studied in a 5x2 factorial randomised experimental design. All runner tips bearing at least one expanded leaf (patent requested) were collected weekly and counted during the growth period. The number of leaves, dry matter (DM) of leaves, crown and root, specific leaf area and leaf area index (LAI) was determined at the final harvest. Increasing N concentration in the nutrient solution from 5.12 to 15.12 mmol L-1 reduces growth of crown, roots and LAI of strawberry stock plants but did not affect emission and growth of runner tips. It was concluded that for the commercial production of plug plants the optimal nitrogen concentration in the nutrient solution should be 5.12 mmol L-1.


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