Evidence for temperature limitation of nitrogen mineralisation in the Drakensberg Alpine Centre

Abstract

We made use of pot experiments and soil mineralisation assays to test the effect of temperature on the soil nitrogen (N) economy of the Drakensberg Alpine Centre (‘mountain site’). The approach was enhanced by the inclusion of a contrasting warm, subtropical environment on the east coast of southern Africa (‘coast site’) which presented an opportunity to test plant growth in mountain soil outside of the mountain site's natural climatic envelope. This study was further augmented by two greenhouse experiments that helped isolate the factors responsible for the growth responses in the experiments above. Plant morphology, plant nutrients and soil nutrients were used as the basis for comparing treatment effects. The primary pot experiment showed that plant growth was uniform in the mountain site regardless of whether the test species was grown in intrinsically N-rich mountain soil or intrinsically N-poor coast soil. However, we noted significant growth differences at the coast site using the aforementioned soil nutrient regimes. In terms of the soil mineralisation assay, coast soil, derived from intrinsically N-poor sandstone, predictably mineralised little soil inorganic N at the mean spring temperature of 19°C. However against expectations, the intrinsically N-rich mountain soil mineralised <1% of its total soil N budget into inorganic N at 12°C, most probably because the microbes responsible for the conversion of organic soil N to inorganic soil N were severely inhibited at this mean spring temperature. However, the potential to mineralise far more N in mountain soil was apparent when using an elevated experimental temperature of 30°C, with 369% more soil N being available under the latter regime. Our results suggest that the cooler temperatures associated with high elevations in the mountain site constrain the activity of soil microbes in mountain soil, resulting in a functionally N-poor soil economy particularly deficient in inorganic N. This also explains the similar growth responses regardless of the soil being intrinsically N-rich or N-poor. We speculate whether or not more soil inorganic N may become available under a regime of warming due to accelerated N mineralisation, to the detriment of plant taxa adapted to low soil N availability.