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- H42C-05: Shallow Snowpack and Early Snowmelt Constrain Critical Zone Nitrogen Cycling in Northern Hardwood Forests
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NOLA CC
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Stephen Caron, New York University (First Author, Presenting Author)
Charles Driscoll, Syracuse University
John Campbell, USDA Forest Service
Peter Groffman, CUNY Advanced Science Research Center; Brooklyn College
Brendan Leonardi, Hubbard Brook Research Foundation
Andrew Reinmann, City University New York
Lindsey Rustad, USDA Forest Service
Geoff Wilson, Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies
Pamela Templer, Boston University
In the northeast U.S., winters are warming faster than summers, leading to shallower and less sustained snowpacks in forests that are adapted to consistent winter snow cover. These changes are also causing snow to melt earlier in spring, which is a critical time for water and nutrient cycling, particularly of nitrogen (N), the primary limiting nutrient for northern hardwood trees. During the winter-to-spring transition, melting snow and warming soils release N that trees need to grow. However, little is known about how shrinking snowpacks and earlier snowmelt affect the N supply in northern forests, or how changing winter conditions may carry through the growing season. To investigate this, we halved or doubled the late winter snowpack in forested plots to accelerate or delay snowmelt by about a week. After two years, we found that early snowmelt reduced the amount of nitrate, which is a form of N that trees readily absorb, in soil. In the summers following our experiments, we also found lower amounts of N in the leaves of sugar maple trees that were exposed to shallow snow and early snowmelt. These results suggest that warming driven changes to snowmelt timing may further limit N supply to snow-adapted forests.
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