Soil and stream water acidification in a forested catchment in central Japan

Abstract

Rapid industrialization in East Asia is causing adverse effects due to atmospheric deposition in terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems. Decreasing stream pH and alkalinity and increasing NO3 − concentrations were observed throughout the 1990s in the forested Lake Ijira catchment in central Japan. We investigated these changes using data on atmospheric deposition, soil chemistry, stream water chemistry, and forest growth. Average atmospheric depositions (wet + dry) of 0.83, 0.57, and 1.37 kmol ha−1 year−1 for hydrogen, sulfur, and nitrogen, respectively, were among the highest levels in Japan. Atmospheric deposition generally decreased before 1994 and increased thereafter. The catchment was acid-sensitive; stream alkalinity was low (134 μmolc l−1) and pH in surface mineral soils decreased from 4.5 in 1990 to 3.9 in 2003. Stream NO3 − concentration nearly doubled (from 22 to 42 μmolc l−1) from the late 1980s to the early 2000s. Stream NO3 − concentration was controlled primarily by water temperature before 1996/1997 and by stream discharge thereafter. Stream NO3 − concentrations decreased during the growing season before 1996/1997, but this seasonality was lost thereafter. The catchment became nitrogen-saturated (changing from stage 1 to 2) in 1996/1997, possibly because of declining forest growth rates due to the 1994 summer drought, defoliation of Japanese red pine by pine wilt disease, maturation of Japanese cedar stands, and stimulation of nitrogen mineralization and nitrification due to alkalinization of soils (increased exchangeable Ca2+ and soil pH) after the summer drought. Stream pH and alkalinity began decreasing in 1996/1997. The enhanced growing-season NO3 − discharge since 1996/1997 appeared to be the major cause of stream acidification. Increased atmospheric deposition since 1994 may have contributed to this change.