Filling the Boreal Nitrogen Gap

Biological N fixation by cyanobactieral-feathermoss associations is a dominant source of N for the biota of the relatively pristine (low N deposition) environments of Fennoscandia. However, we still need to explicitly examine how this affects ecosystem N availability, plant N uptake, plant-soil N turnover and consequent feedbacks to soil and forest floor greenhouse gas fluxes. Filling this knowledge gap with mechanistic understanding will aid both the sustainable management of these ecosystems for biodiversity and productivity and help to reduce uncertainty in predictions of nutrient dynamics and greenhouse gas fluxes in one of the largest and most carbon rich biomes on Earth.

This project aims to investigate the interactive processes of N fixation, plant and microbial N uptake and N turnover in both pristine and human altered arctic and subarctic Boreal forest ecosystems of northern Fennoscandia and examine their relationship to soil and forest floor greenhouse gas fluxes.