DECOMPOSITION AND NUTRIENT DYNAMICS OF LITTER IN LONG-TERM OPTIMUM NUTRITION EXPERIMENTS .2. NUTRIENT CONCENTRATIONS IN DECOMPOSING PICEA-ABIES NEEDLE LITTER
B. Berg et Co. Tamm, DECOMPOSITION AND NUTRIENT DYNAMICS OF LITTER IN LONG-TERM OPTIMUM NUTRITION EXPERIMENTS .2. NUTRIENT CONCENTRATIONS IN DECOMPOSING PICEA-ABIES NEEDLE LITTER, Scandinavian journal of forest research, 9(2), 1994, pp. 99-105
Temporal patterns of changes in nutrient dynamics were followed in dec
omposing Picea abies needle litter in a long-term optimum nutrition fi
eld experiment using N and P fertilizer. Nutrient-poor brown and nutri
ent-rich green needle litter were incubated in both control plots and
fertilized ones. As decomposition proceeded, we could distinguish two
groups of nutrients, one for which a clear effect of fertilizer was se
en (N, P, Mg) and one for which no clear effect or any clear pattern c
aused by the fertilizer was seen (K, Ca, Mn). Concentrations of N and
P increased and were linearly related to the accumulated mass loss and
their dynamics was clearly affected by the fertilizer, viz. the conce
ntrations increased faster in the fertilized plot. Concentrations of M
g decreased linearly in relation to the accumulated mass loss and for
the nutrient-poor brown litter the decrease rate in concentration was
lower in the fertilized plot. No effect was seen of the green needle l
itter. For Ca the concentration increased initially in all four cases
but then decreased. Concentrations of K decreased initially in all fou
r cases and then remained largely constant. The concentration of Mn in
creased in all four cases but no significant difference could be seen
either between control plot and fertilized plot, or between litter typ
es.