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Benner, J. W./ P. M. Vitousek 2012: Cyanolichens: A link between the phosphorus and nitrogen cycles in a Hawaiian montane forest. - Journal of Tropical Ecology 28(1): 73-81. [RLL List # 226 / Rec.# 33733]
Keywords: cyanolichen/ Hawaii/ nitrogen fixation/ phosphorus/ tropical montane forest/ acetylene/ bioassay/ biogeochemical cycle/ community composition/ ecosystem structure/ fertilizer application/ lichen/ limiting factor/ montane forest/ nitrogen fixation/ population size/ Hawaii [United States]/ United States
Abstract: Low phosphorus (P) supply frequently has been shown to limit the abundance and activity of nitrogen (N)-fixing organisms, potentially constraining N inputs to ecosystems. Previous research in a montane Hawaiian forest has shown that ground-level P-fertilization led to significant increases in the population size of epiphytic N-fixing lichens (cyanolichens), as well as a shift in community composition from crustose to leafy species. In this study, we ask whether these changes in the cyanolichen community have resulted in increased N inputs to the forest, and also whether the very high levels of P in the canopy of P-fertilized forest stimulate individual lichen fixation rates over those of lichens from a nearby unfertilized reference forest. We used acetylene reduction (AR) assays to measure the fixation rates of 14 cyanolichen species from P-fertilized forest, and calibrated these rates by measuring15N2 fixation incorporation in four species. We found that the ratio of acetylene reduced to N fixed ranged from 2.4 ± 0.4 in Pseudocyphellaria crocata to 9.3 ± 2.4 in Leptogium denticulatum. Nitrogen fixation rates in the P-fertilized forest ranged from 0.64 ± 0.05 nmol N cm-2 h in Nephroma helveticum to 3.97 ± 1.48 nmol N cm-2 h in Parmeliella nigrocincta. Fixation rates did not vary greatly among species from P-fertilized forest. We compared these P-fertilized rates to those of 10 species from the reference forest, and found that mass-based fixation rates of P-fertilized lichens were not greater than those of lichens from the unfertilized forest. Using the measured AR rates, we estimate that the P additions increase cyanolichen N inputs to the forest 30-fold, from ?0.3 kg N ha y to ?9 kg N ha y. These results suggest that P additions to this ecosystem increase N inputs primarily by increasing the abundance of cyanolichens, and that shifts in cyanolichen community composition and changes in individual fixation rate were of lesser importance in determining ecosystem N inputs. © Copyright Cambridge University Press 2011.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0266467411000605
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