Continental soil drivers of ammonium and nitrate in Australia

Soil N is an essential element for plant growth, but its mineral forms are subject to loss from the environment by leaching and gaseous emissions. Despite its importance for the soil-plant system, factors controlling soil mineral N contents over large spatial scales are not well understood. We used...

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Main Authors: Lee, Juhwan, Garland, G., Viscarra Rossel, Raphael
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: COPERNICUS GESELLSCHAFT MBH 2018
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/75588
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author Lee, Juhwan
Garland, G.
Viscarra Rossel, Raphael
author_facet Lee, Juhwan
Garland, G.
Viscarra Rossel, Raphael
author_sort Lee, Juhwan
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Soil N is an essential element for plant growth, but its mineral forms are subject to loss from the environment by leaching and gaseous emissions. Despite its importance for the soil-plant system, factors controlling soil mineral N contents over large spatial scales are not well understood. We used and contents (0–30 cm depth) from 469 sites across Australia and determined soil controls on their regional variation. Soil mineral N varied regionally but depended on the different land uses. In the agricultural region of Australia, tended to be similar (median 4.0 vs. 3.5 mg N kg−1) and was significantly enriched (3.0 vs. 1.0 mg N kg−1), compared to the non-agricultural region. The importance of soil controls on mineral N in the agricultural region, identified by the model trees algorithm Cubist, showed that was affected by total N, cation exchange capacity (CEC) and pH. In the non-agricultural region, was affected not only by CEC and pH, but also by organic C and total P. In each of the regions, was primarily affected by CEC, with more complex biophysical controls. In both regions, correlations between mineral N and soil C : N : P stoichiometry suggest that more was found in P-depleted soil relative to total C and total N. However, our results showed that only in the non-agricultural region was sensitive to the state of C and its interaction with N and P. The models helped to explain 36 %–68 % of regional variation in mineral N. Although soil controls on high N contents were highly uncertain, we found that region-specific interactions of soil properties control mineral N contents. It is therefore essential to understand how they alter soil mechanisms and N cycling at large scales.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-755882020-12-03T03:52:46Z Continental soil drivers of ammonium and nitrate in Australia Lee, Juhwan Garland, G. Viscarra Rossel, Raphael Science & Technology Life Sciences & Biomedicine Soil Science Agriculture MINERAL NITROGEN ORGANIC-MATTER CARBON ECOSYSTEMS MANAGEMENT NUTRITION RESPONSES ECOLOGY CYCLE N2O Soil N is an essential element for plant growth, but its mineral forms are subject to loss from the environment by leaching and gaseous emissions. Despite its importance for the soil-plant system, factors controlling soil mineral N contents over large spatial scales are not well understood. We used and contents (0–30 cm depth) from 469 sites across Australia and determined soil controls on their regional variation. Soil mineral N varied regionally but depended on the different land uses. In the agricultural region of Australia, tended to be similar (median 4.0 vs. 3.5 mg N kg−1) and was significantly enriched (3.0 vs. 1.0 mg N kg−1), compared to the non-agricultural region. The importance of soil controls on mineral N in the agricultural region, identified by the model trees algorithm Cubist, showed that was affected by total N, cation exchange capacity (CEC) and pH. In the non-agricultural region, was affected not only by CEC and pH, but also by organic C and total P. In each of the regions, was primarily affected by CEC, with more complex biophysical controls. In both regions, correlations between mineral N and soil C : N : P stoichiometry suggest that more was found in P-depleted soil relative to total C and total N. However, our results showed that only in the non-agricultural region was sensitive to the state of C and its interaction with N and P. The models helped to explain 36 %–68 % of regional variation in mineral N. Although soil controls on high N contents were highly uncertain, we found that region-specific interactions of soil properties control mineral N contents. It is therefore essential to understand how they alter soil mechanisms and N cycling at large scales. 2018 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/75588 10.5194/soil-4-213-2018 English http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ COPERNICUS GESELLSCHAFT MBH fulltext
spellingShingle Science & Technology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Soil Science
Agriculture
MINERAL NITROGEN
ORGANIC-MATTER
CARBON
ECOSYSTEMS
MANAGEMENT
NUTRITION
RESPONSES
ECOLOGY
CYCLE
N2O
Lee, Juhwan
Garland, G.
Viscarra Rossel, Raphael
Continental soil drivers of ammonium and nitrate in Australia
title Continental soil drivers of ammonium and nitrate in Australia
title_full Continental soil drivers of ammonium and nitrate in Australia
title_fullStr Continental soil drivers of ammonium and nitrate in Australia
title_full_unstemmed Continental soil drivers of ammonium and nitrate in Australia
title_short Continental soil drivers of ammonium and nitrate in Australia
title_sort continental soil drivers of ammonium and nitrate in australia
topic Science & Technology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Soil Science
Agriculture
MINERAL NITROGEN
ORGANIC-MATTER
CARBON
ECOSYSTEMS
MANAGEMENT
NUTRITION
RESPONSES
ECOLOGY
CYCLE
N2O
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/75588