Short-term effects of nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers on nitrogen mineralization and trophic structure of the soil ecosystem in forest clearcuts in the southern interior of British Columbia

Abstract

Ammonium sulphate and an ammonium sulphate-ammonium phosphate mixture were applied at 200 kg N ha-1 and 200 kg P ha-1 at three clearcut sites within the Interior Cedar-Hemlock biogeoclimatic zone in southern British Columbia. N mineralised under aerobic and anaerobic conditions, nitrification, biomasses of fungi and bacteria,the abundance of protozoa, and the trophic structure of nematode communities were studied at 4, 12, 16, and 28 mo after fertilisation. Nitrogen mineralised under aerobic conditions was greater in fertilised soil than in non-fertilised soil at 4 and 16 mo after fertiliser applications. Nitrification also increased after fertilisation. Fertilisation did not affect bacterial or fungal biomasses, but did increase the ratio of bacterial biomass/fungal biomass, the abundance of bacterivorous nematodes, and the ratio of bacterivorous nematodes/fungivorous nematodes. Thus, the fertiliser-induced increase in N mineralization appears to have been the result of increased bacterial decomposition and flow of carbon and nitrogen through bacteria-bacterivore channels of the soil food web. Key words: N mineralization, fertilisation, microbial biomass, microfauna, nematode ecology