Effects of acidic precipitation and acidity on soil microbial processes
Effects of oil acidity on microbial decomposition of organic matter and transformation of nitrogen in an acid forest soil were investigated. In the oak-leaf-amended pH-adjusted acid soils, CO/sub 2/ production in 14- and 150-day preincubated samples decreased by about 6 and 37%, respectively. In the control (unamended) acidified soils, reductions in CO/sub 2/ production of 14% in 14-day preincubated samples and 52% in 150-day samples were observed. Ammonia formation in the pH-adjusted acid soil was about 50% less than in the naturally acid soil. Increased rates of ammonification and nitrification were observed in the pH-adjusted neutral soil. Little autotrophic and heterotrophic nitrifying activity was detected in naturally acid and acidified forest soils. The rate of denitrification was rather slow in acid soils, and at greater acidities N/sub 2/O was the predominant end product. The abundance of nitrogen-fixing free-living bacteria was very low in acidic and acidified forest soils, and nitrogen gains by asymbiotic bacterial fixation in an acid forest ecosystem may be insignificant. These results suggest that further acidification of acid forest soils by addition of sulfuric acid or by acid precipitation may lead to significant reductions in the leaf litter decomposition, ammonification, nitrification, and denitrification and thus reduce nutrient recycling in the forest ecosystem.
- Research Organization:
- Brookhaven National Lab., Upton, NY (USA)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC02-76CH00016
- OSTI ID:
- 6337080
- Report Number(s):
- BNL-29549; CONF-810493-1; ON: DE81025067
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Rate of aerobic nitrogen transformations in six acid climax forest soils and the effect of phosphorus and CaCO3
Nitrification and characteristics of nitrifying microorganisms in an acid forest soil
Related Subjects
Atmospheric-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (-1989)
510200 -- Environment
Terrestrial-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
560302* -- Chemicals Metabolism & Toxicology-- Microorganisms-- (-1987)
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
ACID RAIN
AMMONIA
ATMOSPHERIC PRECIPITATIONS
BACTERIA
BIOCHEMICAL REACTION KINETICS
BIODEGRADATION
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CARBON DIOXIDE
CARBON OXIDES
CHALCOGENIDES
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
DECOMPOSITION
DENITRIFICATION
ECOSYSTEMS
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
FORESTS
HYDRIDES
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
KINETICS
MICROORGANISMS
NITRIFICATION
NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
NITROGEN CYCLE
NITROGEN HYDRIDES
ORGANIC MATTER
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PH VALUE
RAIN
REACTION KINETICS
SNOW
SOILS
TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS