%0 Journal Article
%T Comparable canapy and soil free living nitrogen fixation rates in e lowland tropical forest
%A Van Langenhove, Leandro
%A Depaepe, Thomas
%A Verryckt, Lore T.
%A Fuchslueger, Lucia
%A Donald, Julian
%A Celine, Leroy
%A Krishna Moorthy, Sruthi M.
%A Gargallo-Garriga, Albert
%A Farnon Ellwood, M. D.
%A Verbeeck, Hans
%A Van Der Straeten, Dominique
%A Penuelas, Josep
%A Janssens, Ivan A.
%J Science of the total environment
%D 2021
%V 754
%I Elsevier
%G Anglais
%F VanLangenhove_etal2021
%O exported from refbase (http://php.ecofog.gf/refbase/show.php?record=1006), last updated on Tue, 19 Jul 2022 11:20:36 -0300
%X Biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) is a fundamental part of nitrogen cycling in tropical forests, yet little is known about the contribution made by free-living nitrogen fixers inhabiting the often-extensive forest canopy. We used the acetylene reduction assay, calibrated with 15N2, to measure free-living BNF on forest canopy leaves, vascular epiphytes, bryophytes and canopy soil, as well as on the forest floor in leaf litter and soil. We used a combination of calculated and published component densities to upscale free-living BNF rates to the forest level. We found that bryophytes and leaves situated in the canopy in particular displayed high mass-based rates of free-living BNF. Additionally, we calculated that nearly 2 kg of nitrogen enters the forest ecosystem through free-living BNF every year, 40% of which was fixed by the various canopy components. Our results reveal that in the studied tropical lowland forest a large part of the nitrogen input through free-living BNF stems from the canopy, but also that the total nitrogen inputs by free-living BNF are lower than previously thought and comparable to the inputs of reactive nitrogen by atmospheric deposition.
%K Biodiversité
%K Systématique
%K phylogénie
%K taxonomie
%K Ecologie
%K Environnement
%K Ecosystèmes
%K Biologie végétale
%K Botanique
%U http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.142202