Correlations between soil nutrient availability and fine-root biomass at two spatial scales in forested wetlands with contrasting hydrological regimes

Abstract

We investigated the relationship between soil nutrients and fine-root biomass at broad (among ecosystem types) and fine (within a 20 m × 20 m plot) spatial scales in forested wetlands of the southeastern United States. We selected three replicates each of high-fertility floodplain swamps, low-fertility depressional swamps, and intermediate-fertility river swamp sloughs and measured soil nutrient availability (NO3-N, NH4-N, and PO4-P) and fine-root biomass. At one replicate of each wetland type, a dense network of sampling points was used to measure variability (variance and coefficient of variation) of soil nutrients and fine-root biomass. At the broad scale, fine-root biomass was lower in floodplain swamps than in either river swamp sloughs or depressional swamps. Also, multiple linear regression and Spearman's rank correlations indicated a negative relationship between soil nutrient availability and fine-root biomass. Fine-scale correlates between soil nutrient availability and fine-root biomass were generally weak. Fine-scale variability of NO3-N and NH4-N was greatest in the floodplain swamps, but nutrients were not spatially patchy at any of the sampled sites. We conclude that soil nutrient availability may control fine-root biomass at the broad scale, but it is unclear if the same is true at fine spatial scales.