Key Role of Symbiotic Dinitrogen Fixation in Tropical Forest Secondary Succession

Batterman, SA; Hedin L.O.; Ransijn, J.; van Breugel, M.; Craven, D.; Hall, JS

Abstract

Forests contribute a significant portion of the land carbon sink, but their ability to sequester CO2 may be constrained by nitrogen1,2,3,4,5,6, a major plant-limiting nutrient. Many tropical forests possess tree species capable of fixing atmospheric dinitrogen (N2)7, but it is unclear whether this functional group can supply the nitrogen needed as forests recover from disturbance or previous land use1, or expand in response to rising CO2 (refs 6, 8). Here we identify a powerful feedback mechanism in which N2 fixation can overcome ecosystem-scale deficiencies in nitrogen that emerge during periods of rapid biomass accumulation in tropical forests. Over a 300-year chronosequence in Panama, N2-fixing tree species accumulated carbon up to nine times faster per individual than their non-fixing neighbours (greatest difference in youngest forests), and showed species-specific differences in the amount and timing of fixation. As a result of fast growth and high fixation, fixers provided a large fraction of the nitrogen needed to support net forest growth (50,000 kg carbon per hectare) in the first 12 years. A key element of ecosystem functional diversity was ensured by the presence of different N2-fixing tree species across the entire forest age sequence. These findings show that symbiotic N2 fixation can have a central role in nitrogen cycling during tropical forest stand development, with potentially important implications for the ability of tropical forests to sequester CO2.

Más información

Título de la Revista: NATURE
Volumen: 502
Número: 7470
Editorial: NATURE PORTFOLIO
Fecha de publicación: 2013
Página de inicio: 224
Página final: 227
DOI:

10.1038/nature12525

Notas: ISI, SCOPUS