The invasive annual cheatgrass releases more nitrogen than crested wheatgrass through root exudation and senescence

Oecologia
Kendalynn A MorrisJeanette Norton

Abstract

Plant-soil feedbacks are an important aspect of invasive species success. One type of feedback is alteration of soil nutrient cycling. Cheatgrass invasion in the western USA is associated with increases in plant-available nitrogen (N), but the mechanism for this has not been elucidated. We labeled cheatgrass and crested wheatgrass, a common perennial grass in western rangelands, with (15)N-urea to determine if differences in root exudates and turnover could be a mechanism for increases in soil N. Mesocosms containing plants were either kept moist, or dried out during the final 10 days to determine the role of senescence in root N release. Soil N transformation rates were determined using (15)N pool dilution. After 75 days of growth, cheatgrass accumulated 30 % more total soil N and organic carbon than crested wheatgrass. Cheatgrass roots released twice as much N as crested wheatgrass roots (0.11 vs. 0.05 mg N kg(-1) soil day(-1)) in both soil moisture treatments. This occurred despite lower root abundance (7.0 vs. 17.3 g dry root kg(-1) soil) and N concentration (6.0 vs. 7.6 g N kg(-1) root) in cheatgrass vs. crested wheatgrass. We propose that increases in soil N pool sizes and transformation rates under cheatgrass are caused ...Continue Reading

References

May 10, 2003·Proceedings. Biological Sciences·Jonathan M LevineSandra Lavorel
Apr 17, 2004·Annals of Botany·Susan E MeyerStephanie L Carlson
Sep 24, 2004·Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry : RCM·Gerhard Hertenberger, Wolfgang Wanek
Jun 5, 2008·Ecology Letters·Andrew KulmatiskiStephanie M Cobbold
May 23, 2012·Ecological Applications : a Publication of the Ecological Society of America·Kelley A Meinhardt, Catherine A Gehring

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