Proton Budget for a Japanese Cedar Forest Ecosystem

Abstract

The proton budget for a Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria japonica) forest in Gunma Prefecture, Japan, was studied by estimating biogeochemical fluxes. The proton budgets were estimated for three individual compartments of the ecosystem: vegetation canopy, and the upper (O horizon + 0–10 cm) and lower (10–100 cm) soil layers. The dominant proton sources in the compartments were atmospheric deposition (1.2 kmol ha−1 yr−1), nitrification (5.1 kmol, ha−1 yr−1) and base-cation uptake by vegetation (8.0 kmol, ha−1 yr−1) respectively. These proton sources were neutralized almost completely within the individual compartments mainly by base-cation release from the canopy or the soil. The sum of internal proton sources was five times as large as that of external ones. Nitrogen input from the atmosphere was 2.2 kmol ha−1 yr−1, whereas its output from the lower soil layer was 3.9 kmol ha−1 yr−1, indicating that a net loss of nitrogen occurred in the ecosystem. However, this did not cause the acidification of soil leachates because of a sufficient release rate of base cations from the soil.