Fluxes of dissolved organic carbon and nitrogen throughout Andisol, Spodosol and Inceptisol profiles under forest in Japan

Figures & data

Table 1. Site description

Site	NG (Nagano)	TG (Tango)	KT (Kyoto)
Coordinates	N35°57′, E138°28′	N35°37′, E1135°10′	N35°1′, E135°47′
Elevation (m)	1440	675	90
Mean annual air temperature (°C)	6.9‡	10.7	15.9‡
Mean annual precipitation (mm)	1422‡	1782‡	1490‡
Vegetation	Quercus crispula	Fagus crenata	Quercus serrata Castanopsis cuspidate
Soil type†	Acrudoxic Melanudands	Andic Haplohumods	Typic Dystrudepts
Parent material	Volcanic ash	Sedimentary rocks, granite	Sedimentary rocks
†Soils were classified according to Soil Taxonomy (Soil Survey Staff 2006).
‡Average of 1984–2004 taken from nearest meteological stations, i.e. Nobeyama, Miyazu and Kyoto.

Table 2. Chemical properties of soils

Site	Horizon	Depth (cm)	pH (H2O)	TC	TN	C/N	Sio†	Feo†	Alo†	Sip‡	Fep‡	Alp‡
				(g kg^−1)			(g kg^−1)			(g kg^−1)
NG	O	+2–0	6.3	448	18.4	24	–	–	–	–	–	–
Andisol	A1	0–5	4.6	212	14.2	15	3.5	16.3	24.7	1.7	12.3	17.7
	A2	5–15	4.6	167	10.0	17	6.1	14.4	25.1	1.1	8.6	15.2
	A3	15–35	4.8	134	8.1	16	6.8	20.2	32.8	0.9	9.0	16.3
	BA	35–50	4.9	98	6.0	16	13.2	20.1	36.7	0.4	4.5	8.0
	Bw	50–76+	5.0	23	1.9	12	16.5	18.7	36.3	0.8	1.2	3.9
TG	Oi	+10–+8	5.4	501	14.7	34	–	–	–	–	–	–
Spodosol	Oe	+8–+3	4.3	468	18.4	25	–	–	–	–	–	–
	Oa	+3–0	4.0	432	20.8	21	–	–	–	–	–	–
	AE	0–9	3.8	125	6.8	17	0.1	11.6	4.9	1.2	14.7	4.8
	Bhs	9–35	4.4	66	3.4	17	2.2	14.9	17.5	0.8	10.9	11.9
	Bs	35–72	4.5	18	1.1	17	2.2	7.0	11.7	0.8	4.7	6.9
	BC	72–86+	4.6	5	0.3	15	0.3	2.8	3.1	0.4	2.7	2.8
KT	O	+2–0	5.2	483	18.7	26	–	–	–	–	–	–
Inceptisol	A	0–7	4.2	45	2.4	19	0.1	2.6	4.4	0.4	2.0	4.1
	Bw1	7–15	4.2	13	0.8	16	0.1	1.9	2.1	0.1	1.5	2.0
	Bw2	15–45	4.2	8	0.6	12	0.2	1.6	2.2	0.2	1.4	1.5
	Bw3	45–65+	4.2	5	0.5	11	0.2	1.7	1.8	0.4	1.4	1.5
Oven-dried basis.
†The oxalate-extractable Si, Fe and Al compounds were determined by extraction in the dark with acid ( P H 3) 0.2 M ammonium oxalate (McKeague & Day 1966).
‡The oxalate-extractable Si, Fe and Al compounds were determined by extraction with 0.1 M pyrophosphate at pH 10 (Schuppli et al. 1983). C, carbon; N, nitrogen; H2O, water; TC, total carbon; TN, total nitrogen; NG, Nagano; TG, Tango; KT, Kyoto.

Figure 1. Seasonal fluctuation of the concentrations of dissolved organic carbon (DOC), dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) and dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) in throughfall and soil solution. Bars indicate standard errors (n = 5). NG, Nagano; TG, Tango; KT, Kyoto; N, nitrogen; O, organic.

Figure 2. Relationship between soil temperature and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations in the organic (O) horizon solutions in Tango. The soil temperature used in analysis was the mean soil temperature monitored during sampling period. Bars indicate standard errors (n = 5).

Table 3. Aboveground biomass, fine root biomass and litterfall

	Above ground biomass†	Root biomass (Mg C ha^−1)		Litterfall
Site				C	N	C/N	Lignin
	(Mg C ha^−1)	O horizon	Mineral soil	(Mg C ha^−1yr^−1)	(kg N ha^−1 yr^−1)		(%)
NG	78	0.4	1.6	1.6	49.8	32.8	32.2
TG	83	2.1	0.8	2.1	51.0	40.4	38.2
KT	115	1.4	2.8	3.2	81.6	39.1	33.8
†The data were cited from Shinjo et al. (2006). C, carbon; Mg, magnesium; N, nitrogen; O, organic; NG, Nagano; TG, Tango; KT, Kyoto.

Table 4. Annual volume-weighted mean concentrations and fluxes of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) in throughfall and soil solution

Site	Horizon†	pH	Concentration‡					DOC/ DON	DON/ TDN	Flux‡
			DOC		DON		DIN			Water	DOC		DON		DIN
			(mg C L^−1)		(mg N L^−1)				(%)	(mm yr^−1)	(kg C ha^−1yr^−1)		(kg C ha^−1yr^−1)
NG	TF	6.0 ± 0.0	5.3 ± 0.3	aA	0.23 ± 0.01	aB	0.59 ± 0.09	23	28	1155 ± 17	61.3 ± 2.9	aB	2.6 ± 0.1	aC	6.8 ± 1. 0
	O	6.0 ± 0.1	6.8 ± 1.7	aC	0.30 ± 0.08	aC	1.90 ± 0.27	22	14	779 ± 87	52.6 ± 12.1	aC	2.4 ± 0.6	aC	14.8 ± 1.3
	A1	6.1 ± 0.1	1.5 ± 0.5	bB	0.07 ± 0.03	bB	1.38 ± 0.10	21	5	718 ± 43	10.5 ± 3.7	bB	0.5 ± 0.2	bC	9.9 ± 0.4
	A2	6.0 ± 0.1	1.4 ± 0.1	bC	0.09 ± 0.02	bC	1.38 ± 0.14	15	6	616 ± 54	8.6 ± 0.4	bC	0.6 ± 0.1	bC	8.5 ± 0.4
TG	TF	5.4 ± 0.0	4.7 ± 0.2	cA	0.23 ± 0.01	cB	0.53 ± 0.07	20	30	1676 ± 33	78.5 ± 2.4	cA	3.9 ± 0.1	cA	8.9 ± 1.1
	O	3.9 ± 0.1	28.9 ± 3.5	aA	1.16 ± 0.14	aA	6.48 ± 0.84	25	15	1189 ± 116	343.6 ± 24.9	aA	13.8 ± 1.0	aA	77.0 ± 6.6
	A	4.1 ± 0.1	13.0 ± 1.2	bA	0.73 ± 0.07	bA	4.23 ± 0.51	18	15	945 ± 62	122.7 ± 8.6	bA	6.9 ± 0.5	bA	40.0 ± 4.0
	B	4.6 ± 0.0	2.3 ± 0.2	cB	0.16 ± 0.02	cB	1.89 ± 0.26	15	8	873 ± 78	20.5 ± 1.4	dB	1.4 ± 0.1	dA	16.5 ± 1.7
KT	TF	5.2 ± 0.0	5.6 ± 0.4	bA	0.34 ± 0.03	bA	1.07 ± 0.14	16	24	1657 ± 33	92.7 ± 7.1	bA	5.6 ± 0.5	aB	17.8 ± 2.3
	O	4.3 ± 0.1	15.4 ± 1.6	aB	0.66 ± 0.07	aB	1.87 ± 0.41	23	26	973 ± 76	149.4 ± 10.3	aB	6.4 ± 0.4	aB	18.2 ± 3.7
	A	4.4 ± 0.1	14.0 ± 1.6	aA	0.65 ± 0.08	aA	1.81 ± 0.28	22	26	805 ± 82	112.8 ± 6.3	aA	5.2 ± 0.3	aB	14.6 ± 1.7
	B	4.5 ± 0.1	4.3 ± 0.8	bA	0.34 ± 0.06	bA	0.17 ± 0.04	12	67	825 ± 86	28.2 ± 4.0	cA	2.3 ± 0.3	bB	1.1 ± 0.2
†TF represents throughfall and O, A and B represent present soil horizons.
‡All results are the mean ± standard error of five replicates. The different lowercase letters (a, b, c, d) mean that mean values are significantly different (P < 0.05) between horizons at each site, whereas different uppercase letters (A, B, C) indicate that mean values of each horizon are significantly different between sites. C, carbon; N, nitrogen; DIN, dissolved inorganic nitrogen; TDN, total dissolved nitrogen; O, organic; NG, Nagano; TG, Tango; KT, Kyoto.

Table 5. Comparison of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) fluxes in the organic (O) horizons between our study and the published data

Location	Vegetation type†	Soil type	Annual precipitation	Litterfall C/N	Flux (O horizon)			DOC/ DON	DON/ TDN	Reference
					DOC	DON	DIN
			(mm yr^−1)		(kg C ha^−1)	(kg C ha^−1)			(%)
NG	B	Andisols	1422	33	52.6	2.4	14.8	22.2	14	The present study
TG	B	Spodosols	1782	40	343.6	13.8	77.0	24.8	15
KT	B	Inceptisols	1490	39	149.4	6.4	18.2	23.2	26
USA	C	Andisols	2370	67	482.0	8.9	n.d.	54.0	n.d.	Yano et al. (2004)
USA	C	Spodosols	1400	57	216.5	3.9	2.6	55.5	60	Dittman et al. (2007)
USA	C	Inceptisols	1100	71	398.0	9.5	2.0	41.9	83	Currie et al. (1996)
Norway	C	Spodosols	1400	n.d.	363.0	14.0	n.d.	25.9	n.d.	Mulder et al. (2000)
Finland	C	Spodosols	503	80	125.0	2.3	0.4	54.0	85	Piirainen et al. (2002)
Germany	C	Spodosols	1100	33	114.7	4.7	12.3	24.4	28	Michalzik & Matzner (1999)
USA	B	Spodosols	1400	42	157.9	4.7	6.8	33.6	41	Dittman etal. (2007)
USA	B	Inceptisols	1100	58	225.0	6.1	3.0	36.9	67	Currie et al. (1996)
USA	B	Inceptisols	1770	61	405.0	10.1	1.2	40.1	89	Qualls et al. (1991)
Germany	B	Inceptisols	752	42	353.1	8.9	45.9	39.9	16	Solinger et al. (2001)
cf.Tropical forest
Taiwan	C	Entisols	4815	69	962.0	15.7	3.6	61.3	81	Schmidt et al. (2010)
Costa Rica	B	Oxisols	4200	25	277.0	13.0	200.0	21.3	6	Schwendenmann & Veldcamp (2005)
†C and B indicate coniferous and broad-leaved forests, respectively. C, carbon; N, nitrogen; DIN, dissolved inorganic nitrogen; TDN, total dissolved nitrogen.

Figure 3. The stock and the annual fluxes of carbon (C) (a) and nitrogen (N) (b) via litterfall, organic matter (OM) decomposition, throughfall and soil solution. ^†The data of OM decomposition rates were cited from Shinjo et al. (2006). ^‡The stocks of C and N in soil at the depths of 0 to 45 cm were counted. DOC, dissolved organic carbon; O, organic; NG, Nagano; TG, Tango; KT, Kyoto.

Figure 4. Relationship between carbon/nitrogen (C/N) of the foliar litter and the ratio of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) to dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) in the organic (O) horizon solution.

Figure 5. Relationship between carbon/nitrogen (C/N) of the foliar litter and the ratio of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) to dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) in the organic (O) horizon solution.

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