PARENT SESSION
Oral Session # 35: Biogeochemistry III: Arctic, Alpine, and Tundra Systems.
Presiding: A Hartley
Tuesday, August 5. 1:30 PM to 5:00 PM, SITCC Meeting Room 203.

Nitrogen resorption from senescing plant tissue in arctic tundra and its effects on ecosystem properites.

Epstein, Howard^*,1, Yeatman, William¹, ¹ University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA

ABSTRACT- Nitrogen resorption from senescing plant tissue for use in future growth is a ubiquitous process and can represent a substantial portion of the nitrogen used in net primary productivity. For vascular plants in arctic tundra ecosystems, the proportion of N retranslocated from senescing tissue has been observed to range from 10-80%, largely differing based on plant functional type and species. Values for N retranslocation efficiency are quite variable within plant species and also across studies; standard deviations of leaf N concentrations range from 0.02 to >0.50% for means on the order of 0.30 to 2.50% for dead and live tissue, respectively. In low arctic tundra, dominated by dwarf shrubs and tussock graminoids, resorbed N can account for 40-50% of the N used in annual net primary productivity. Given the importance of this process in terms of plant N availability, variance in N retranslocation could lead to substantial changes in whole-ecosystem properties in arctic tundra. In addition to collecting a dataset on N resorption in low arctic tundra from Ivotuk, Alaska, we used a dynamic tundra vegetation model (ArcVeg) to assess the sensitivity of tundra systems to variability in N retranslocation. Since shrubs represent a substantial portion of the total resorbed N in the system (due to relatively high leaf biomass and high resorption), we conducted a sensitivity analysis of N resorption rates for Betula nana, a dominant deciduous dwarf shrub in low arctic tundra, by altering resorption rates from 40% to 70%. Variation in N resorption rates for a single, dominant species, led to substantial changes in simulated plant community composition and total community biomass. Increasing N resorption rates for B. nana (from 40 to 70%) increased its own biomass by a factor of six and increased total community biomass by 25%. Other community responses to increased N resorption in B. nana were a decline in evergreen shrub biomass and an increase in non-vascular plants (mosses and lichens). This study suggests that uncertainties in N resorption rates by different plant species and functional types have a substantial impact on our general understanding of the nitrogen cycle and vegetation dynamics in arctic tundra.

Key words: nitrogen resorption, ecosystem properties, arctic tundra, dynamic vegetation model