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Boreal forest plants take up organic nitrogen

Abstract

Plant growth in the boreal forest, the largest terrestrial biome, is generally limited by the availability of nitrogen. The presumed cause of this limitation is slow mineralization of soil organic nitrogen1,2. Here we demonstrate, to our knowledge for the first time, the uptake of organic nitrogen in the field by the trees Pinus sylvestris and Picea abies, the dwarf shrub Vaccinium myrtillus and the grass Deschampsia flexuosa. These results show that these plants, irrespective of their different types of root–fungal associations (mycorrhiza), bypass nitrogen mineralization. A trace of the amino acid glycine, labelled with the stable isotopes 13C and 15N, was injected into the organic (mor) layer of an old successional boreal coniferous forest. Ratios of 13C:15N in the roots showed that at least 91, 64 and 42% of the nitrogen from the absorbed glycine was taken up in intact glycine by the dwarf shrub, the grass and the trees, respectively. Rates of glycine uptake were similar to those of 15N-ammonium. Our data indicate that organic nitrogen is important for these different plants, even when they are competing with each other and with non-symbiotic microorganisms. This has major implications for our understanding of the effects of nitrogen deposition, global warming and intensified forestry.

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Figure 1: The relationship between excess 13C and excess 15N in the soluble nitrogen fraction in plant roots from the plots 6 h after injecting the mor layer with water (control plots, squares) or solutions containing (U-13C2, 15N) glycine (filled circles) or 15NH4+ (open circles).
Figure 2: The relationship between excess 13C and excess 15N in the mor layer into which water, or solutions containing (U-13C2, 15N) glycine or 15NH4+, was injected.

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Acknowledgements

We thank M. Zetherström and G. Nyberg for assistance in the field and laboratory, and H. Wallmark for conducting the isotope analyses. This work was supported by grants from SJFR (to T.N.) and from NFR, SJFR and CEC (project CANIF) (to P.H.).

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Correspondence to Torgny Näsholm.

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Näsholm, T., Ekblad, A., Nordin, A. et al. Boreal forest plants take up organic nitrogen. Nature 392, 914–916 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/31921

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