Nitrogen deposition accelerates soil carbon sequestration in tropical forests
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Significance Forest soil carbon (C) storage plays a central role in sequestrating atmospheric CO 2 on timescales from centuries to millennia. However, our current understanding of soil C sequestration in response to N deposition mainly focuses on mid-to-high latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere, where N supply typically constrains forest growth. We lack data about changes in soil C stocks in tropical forests, where most ecosystems are N-rich or N-saturated. Using more than a decade of continuous N addition experiment and a meta-analysis, we found that excess N deposition can significantly increase soil C in N-rich tropical forests. However, enhanced C sequestration in tropical soils is not a good reason to justify excess N emissions to the atmosphere.
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Fertilization with N or P could relieve plants from nutrient limitation and allow them to sequester more C in stems and soils; excess N deposition can significantly increase soil C in N-rich tropical forests.
“Fertilization, usually with N or P, could relieve plants from nutrient limitation and allow them to sequester more C in stems and soils. For example, excess N deposition can significantly increase soil C in N-rich tropical forests.183”
From Technologies and perspectives for achieving carbon neutrality (2021) · cites this paper as [183]
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Technologies and perspectives for achieving carbon neutrality
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- Authors
- Lu, X., Vitousek, P. M., Mao, Q., Gilliam, F. S., Luo, Y., Turner, B. L., Zhou, G., & Mo, J.
- Affiliations
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Stanford University (US)
- University of West Florida (US)
- Northern Arizona University (US)
- Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (PA)
- Corresponding author
- Lu, Xiankai
- Vitousek, Peter M.
- Mo, Jiangming
- ORCID
- Venue
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Publisher
- National Academy of Sciences
- Published
- 2021-04-12
- Volume
- 118
- Issue
- 16
- ISSN
- 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
- 1091-6490
- PMC
- PMC8072245
- OpenAlex
- W3153643393
- Cited by
- 314
- References
- 63
- Citations by year
- 2026: 43 · 2025: 65 · 2024: 65 · 2023: 79 · 2022: 48 · 2021: 14
- FWCI
- 30.05
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Greater South Information System
- Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China (41922056, 41731176)
- Youth Innovation Promotion Association of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (201965)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Soil Science › Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics
- Social Sciences › Education › Forest, Soil, and Plant Ecology in China
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Fire effects on ecosystems
- Keywords
- nitrogen deposition, soil carbon sequestration, tropical forests, soil carbon stocks, nitrogen addition experiment, nitrogen saturation, carbon cycle, nitrogen emissions
- MeSH terms
- Carbon, Nitrogen, Soil, Soil Microbiology, Trees, Tropical Climate, Ecosystem, Climate Change, Carbon Sequestration, Forests, Rainforest
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