Riparian alder fens — source or sink for nutrients and dissolved organic carbon? — 2. Major sources and sinks

Abstract

Natural riparian forest wetlands are known to be effective in their ability to remove nitrate by denitrification and sediments with attached phosphorus via sedimentation. On the other hand, litter input and decomposition is a process of crucial importance in cycling of nitrogen and phosphorus in a forest ecosystem. In this study we investigated the amount of nitrogen and phosphorus entering the alder fen ecosystem through leaf litter and its decomposition and the removal capacity of nitrogen and phosphorus by measuring denitrification and sedimentation in the alder fen. We found an average input of leaf litter during fall 1998 of 226 g m −2 yr −1 DW with nutrient concentration of 0.17% P and 1.6% N. This means a yearly input of 0.4 g m −2 yr −1 P and 3.6 g m −2 yr −1 N. The decomposition of leaf litter using litter bags with small and large mesh size resulted in bags with macroinvertebrates (large mesh size) and without macroinvertebrates (small mesh size). After 57 days the litter bags with macroinvertebrates had a decomposition rate of 79%. Denitrification was measured in May and June of 1997 using the acetylene inhibition technique on intact soil cores and slurry-experiments. The average annual denitrification rate was 0.2 g m −2 yr −1 N using data from the core experiments. The denitrification rate was higher after addition of nitrate, indicating that denitrification in the riparian alder fen is mainly controlled by nitrate supply. The sedimentation rate in the investigated alder fen ranged from 0.47 kg m −2 yr −1 DW to 4.46 kg m −2 yr −1 DW in 1998 depending on the study site and method we used. Sedimentation rates were lower in newly designed plate traps than in cylinder traps. The alder fen also showed lower rates than the adjacent creek Briese. Average phosphorus removal rate was 0.33 g m −2 yr −1 P. Input sources for the surface water of the alder fen are sediment mineralization and decomposition of leaf litter; output sources are sedimentation and denitrification. This study showed that a nutrient input of 24.58 kg ha −1 yr −1 N, 8.8 kg ha −1 yr −1 P and 419 kg ha −1 yr −1 DOC into the surface water of the alder fen is possible. Alder fens cannot improve water quality of an adjacent river system. This is only true for a nearly pristine alder fen with the hydrology of 10 months flooded conditions and 2 months non-flooding conditions a year.