Interactions between the carbon, nitrogen, and water cycles under carbon dioxide
enrichment
Smithsonian Institution (1 March 1999 - 28 February 2004)
Collaborators: Dale Johnson, Paul Dijkstra, Graham Hymus, Bert Drake
Project Summary. Rising atmospheric CO2 could alter soil nitrogen (N) cycling, shaping the responses of terrestrial ecosystems to elevated CO2. Increased carbon input to soil through increased root growth and increased soil water content due to decreased plant water use in elevated CO2 can all affect soil N transformations and thus N availability to plants. This research will determine the effects of elevated CO2 on nitrogen N cycling in a scrub-oak ecosystem by using a long-term 15N tracer, and will relate observed changes in N cycling to changes in carbon input to soil and in soil hydrology.