Experimentally increased soil temperature causes release of nitrogen at a boreal forest catchment in southern Norway

Abstract

Boreal forest ecosystems are sensitive to global warming, caused by increasing emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases. Assessment of the biological response to future climate change is based mainly on large‐scale models. Whole‐ecosystem experiments provide one of the few available tools by which ecosystem response can be measured and with which global models can be evaluated. Boreal ecosystem response to global change may be manifest by alterations in nitrogen (N) dynamics, as N is often the growth limiting nutrient. The CLIMEX (Climate Change Experiment) project entails catchment‐scale manipulations of CO2 (to 560 ppmv) and temperature (by + 3 to + 5 °C) to whole forest ecosystems in southern Norway. Soil temperature is increased at 400‐m2 EGIL catchment by means of electric cables placed on the soil surface. Soil warming at EGIL catchment caused an increase in nitrate and ammonium concentrations in runoff in the first year of treatment. We hypothesize that higher temperature increased N release by mineralization. Whether these responses are only transient will be shown by additional years’ treatment.