Retention and leaching of N in Norwegian coniferous forests

Nitrogen is brought into natural ecosystems from the atmosphere through N-fixation and deposition of NH4+ and NO3- as wet and dry deposition. N is lost from terrestrial ecosystems unaffected by human activities by leaching or as gas, but the losses from different forest-and vegetation types are poorly quantified. The leaching is hampered by uptake in the vegetation and by immobilisation by soil organisms. The gas loss of N in the form of N2O and N2 appears to be rather small, but the loss of NO is unknown. Human activities such as those leading to the increased atmospheric dry and wet deposition of N, may affect the N-losses, but the increase in losses are likely to be very dependent on the amounts of N deposited. The present paper discusses the fate of the N deposited under the existing pollution climate in Norway where N deposition above the natural background has taken place for at least 50 years. The deposition today varies from about 15–20 kg N ha-1 yr-1 in the southernmost parts of the country to background values of about 2 kg ha-1 yr-1 in the north. Even in areas with the highest loads there are no clear indications that N-leaching in forest ecosystems has increased to ‘unacceptable’ levels. The main reason for this appears to be that most of the N deposited are immobilised in forest soils and utilised by forest trees and ground cover vegetation to increased biomass production. At present therefore, no clear signs of N-saturation can be found. This is in relatively good accordance with estimates of critical loads for N in Norwegian coniferous forests. Estimates of immobilisation, gas losses, net uptake in vegetation, biological fixation as well as a figure for ‘acceptable’ leaching, indicate that the long-term critical load of N might be of the order 10 to 30 kg N ha-1 yr-1. Most of the N deposited from the atmosphere appears therefore so far to be retained in the forests and only a small proportion seems to be lost to ground-and surface waters.