TY - JOUR
T1 - The spatial pattern of nitrogen cycling in the adirondack park, New York
AU - McNeil, Brenden E.
AU - Read, Jane M.
AU - Sullivan, Timothy J.
AU - McDonnell, Todd C.
AU - Fernandez, Ivan J.
AU - Driscoll, Charles T.
PY - 2008/3
Y1 - 2008/3
N2 - Maps of canopy nitrogen obtained through analysis of high-resolution, hyperspectral, remotely sensed images now offer a powerful means to make landscape-scale to regional-scale estimates of forest N cycling and net primary production (NPP). Moreover, recent research has suggested that the spatial variability within maps of canopy N may be driven by environmental gradients in such features as historic forest disturbance, temperature, species composition, moisture, geology, and atmospheric N deposition. Using the wide variation in these six features found within the diverse forest ecosystems of the 2.5 million ha Adirondack Park, New York, USA, we examined linkages among environmental gradients and three measures of N cycling collected during the 2003 growing season: (1) field survey of canopy N, (2) field survey of soil C:N, and (3) canopy N measured through analysis of two 185 × 7.5 km Hyperion hyperspectral images. These three measures of N cycling strongly related to forest type but related poorly to all other environmental gradients. Further analysis revealed that the spatial pattern in N cycling appears to have distinct inter- and intraspecific components of variability. The interspecific component, or the proportional contribution of species functional traits to canopy biomass, explained 93% of spatial variability within the field canopy N survey and 37% of variability within the soil C:N survey. Residual analysis revealed that N deposition accounted for an additional 2% of variability in soil C:N, and N deposition and historical forest disturbance accounted for an additional 2.8% of variability in canopy N. Given our finding that 95.8% of the variability in the field canopy N survey could be attributed to variation in the physical environment, our research suggests that remotely sensed maps of canopy N may be useful not only to assess the spatial variability in N cycling and NPP, but also to unravel the relative importance of their multiple controlling factors.
AB - Maps of canopy nitrogen obtained through analysis of high-resolution, hyperspectral, remotely sensed images now offer a powerful means to make landscape-scale to regional-scale estimates of forest N cycling and net primary production (NPP). Moreover, recent research has suggested that the spatial variability within maps of canopy N may be driven by environmental gradients in such features as historic forest disturbance, temperature, species composition, moisture, geology, and atmospheric N deposition. Using the wide variation in these six features found within the diverse forest ecosystems of the 2.5 million ha Adirondack Park, New York, USA, we examined linkages among environmental gradients and three measures of N cycling collected during the 2003 growing season: (1) field survey of canopy N, (2) field survey of soil C:N, and (3) canopy N measured through analysis of two 185 × 7.5 km Hyperion hyperspectral images. These three measures of N cycling strongly related to forest type but related poorly to all other environmental gradients. Further analysis revealed that the spatial pattern in N cycling appears to have distinct inter- and intraspecific components of variability. The interspecific component, or the proportional contribution of species functional traits to canopy biomass, explained 93% of spatial variability within the field canopy N survey and 37% of variability within the soil C:N survey. Residual analysis revealed that N deposition accounted for an additional 2% of variability in soil C:N, and N deposition and historical forest disturbance accounted for an additional 2.8% of variability in canopy N. Given our finding that 95.8% of the variability in the field canopy N survey could be attributed to variation in the physical environment, our research suggests that remotely sensed maps of canopy N may be useful not only to assess the spatial variability in N cycling and NPP, but also to unravel the relative importance of their multiple controlling factors.
KW - Adirondack park
KW - Atmospheric nitrogen deposition
KW - Foliar nitrogen
KW - Forest disturbance
KW - Functional trait
KW - Hyperspectral remote sensing
KW - Nitrogen cycling
KW - Spatial variability
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U2 - 10.1890/07-0276.1
DO - 10.1890/07-0276.1
M3 - Article
C2 - 18488607
AN - SCOPUS:54549099225
SN - 1051-0761
VL - 18
SP - 438
EP - 452
JO - Ecological Applications
JF - Ecological Applications
IS - 2
ER -