Calcium isotope constraints on the uptake and sources of Ca 2+ in a base-poor forest: A new concept of combining stable (δ 44/42Ca) and radiogenic ( εCa) signals

Abstract

Plant-available reserves of major base cations, Ca 2+ and Mg 2+, decreased markedly in soils over the past century, thus posing a potential threat to forest ecosystem health. Trees are thought to obtain dissolved Ca 2+ ions mainly from an easily accessible soil–water reservoir also termed the ‘exchangeable cation pool’. The status of Ca reserves in this soil pool is sensitive to anthropogenic perturbations such as soil acidification induced by acid rain and/or excessive timber harvesting. Here we show that in a base-poor forest of the northeastern USA (i.e. Wachusett Mountain, Massachusetts) the ‘exchangeable Ca pool’ of deeper mineral soils has a unique isotope signature that is significantly enriched in the radiogenic 40Ca, due to the dissolution of K-rich silicate minerals such as biotite. Using a simple isotope mass balance, and assuming that the input of Ca from biotite has a ε Ca signature of ∼16, the results of our calculation indicate that the weathering of biotite may supply a sizeable fraction, up to 25%, of Ca 2+ ions into the ‘exchangeable cation pool’ of deeper mineral soils. Importantly, samples of local vegetation (i.e. woody tissues of red oak) show no detectable excess of the radiogenic 40Ca, and based on our model the upper limit of a possible biotite-derived Ca contribution in vegetation is estimated at ∼5%. We also found no evidence of the radiogenic 40Ca signal in the samples of forest floor and the uppermost organic-rich soils (0–15 cm depth), which in turn suggest that over the long-term development of the forest and its organic matter accumulation, the vegetation growth must have also relied primarily on the non-radiogenic Ca sources. Based on our experimental data, such sources may include (i) wet atmospheric deposition, (ii) the organically-complexed Ca in topsoil horizons, and (iii) chemical weathering and/or fungal-mediated dissolution of apatite and Ca-rich plagioclase. Hence, our stable and radiogenic Ca isotope data indicate that the studied base-poor forest is able to bypass the ‘exchangeable cation pool’ of deeper (i.e. below 15 cm) mineral soils, and still manages to meet its nutritional requirements with respect to Ca. Another important implication of this study is that the organically-complexed Ca in the topsoil horizon (0–15 cm depth) has to be tightly bound to the ion exchange sites, otherwise the large radiogenic 40Ca signatures present in the ‘exchangeable cation pool’ of deep mineral soils would be swamped by the downward gravitational flux of non-radiogenic Ca from the decaying organic matter and litterfall. Hence, the limited mobility of the organically-complexed Ca in soils and its tight biological cycling could explain the lack of a significant impact of vegetation on the Ca isotope systematics observed in large rivers.