Precipitation control over inorganic nitrogen import-export budgets across watersheds: a synthesis of long-term ecological research

We investigated long-term and seasonal patterns of N imports and exports, as well as patterns following climate perturbations, across biomes using data from 15 watersheds from nine Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) sites in North America. Mean dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) import?export budgets (N import via precipitation?N export via stream flow) for common years across all watersheds was highly variable, ranging from a net loss of ? 0�17 � 0�09 kg N ha?1mo?1 to net retention of 0�68 � 0�08 kg N ha?1mo?1. The net retention of DIN decreased (smaller import?export budget) with increasing precipitation, as well as with increasing variation in precipitation during the winter, spring, and fall. Averaged across...

Categories: Publication; Types: Citation, Journal Citation; Tags: Ecohydrology, disturbance, drought, flashiness, inorganic nitrogen retention, All tags... long-term ecological research, precipitation, synthesis, watershed budget, Fewer tags