Effects of nitrogen fertilization on the understorey carbon balance over the growing season in a boreal Pine forest.

Boreal forests play a key role in the global carbon cycle and are facing rapid shifts in nitrogen availability with poorly understood consequences for ecosystem function and global climate. We quantified the effects of nitrogen availability on carbon fluxes from a relatively understudied component of these forests -- understorey vegetation -- at three intervals over the summer growing period in a northern Swedish Scots Pine stand. Nitrogen addition altered both photosynthetic carbon uptake and respiratory release, but the magnitude and direction of this effect depended on the time during the growing season and the amount of nitrogen added. Specifically, nitrogen addition stimulated net ecosystem carbon uptake only in the late growing season. We find evidence for species-specific control of understorey carbon sink strength, as photosynthesis per unit ground area was positively correlated only with the abundance of the vascular plant Vaccinium myrtillus and no others. Comparison of photosynthetic carbon uptake with data on plant carbon dioxide release from the study site, indicate that understorey vegetation photosynthate was mainly supplying respiratory demands for much of the year. Only in the late season with nitrogen addition did understorey vegetation appear to experience a large surplus of carbon in excess of respiratory requirements. Further work, simultaneously comparing all major biomass and respiratory carbon fluxes in understorey and tree vegetation, is required to resolve the likely impacts of environmental changes on whole-ecosystem carbon sequestration in boreal forests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]