Plant Biomass Nitrogen

In addition to a complete water balance, EPIC estimates plant biomass production, fertilizer use, wind and water erosion, loss of nitrogen and phosphorus from the soil, and the effect of nutrient loss from the soil on plant growth. 

Knicker, H., Almendros, G., Gonzdlez-Vila, F. J., Martin, F., and Ftidemann, H.-D. (1996). 13C- and 1SN-NMR spectroscopic examination of the transformation of organic nitrogen in plant biomass during thermal treatment. Soil Biol. Biochem. 28,1053-1060. 

The influence of toxic substances on nutrient cycles can also be important. One of the more important nutrient cycles is the carbon cycle carbon from atmospheric carbon dioxide is fixed as organic carbon in plant biomass, biomass is consumed by organisms, and carbon in decaying biomass is released back to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide, with a concurrent release of phosphate, nitrogen, and other nutrients. Toxic substances may cause perturbations in such a cycle, as has been observed when toxic heavy metals in soil have killed populations of earthworms, which are important in biomass recycling. 

In the toposequence of San Carlos de Rio Negro, Tiessen et al. (1994b) indeed found that distributions of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus of total plant biomass (above- plus belowground, Medina and Cuevas 1989) follow those of soil C, N,... 

Nitrogen enrichment changes specific morphologic characteristics as well as the allocation of plant biomass to aboveground and belowground tissues. Many studies report increases in leaf length and width, and shoot height and biomass in response to... 

From the other side, increasing nitrogen deposition is also a problem of environmental concern in many areas of Europe, North America and Asia (see Chapters 8 and 10). Thus this increase in CO2 andN in the atmosphere could lead to various global environmental problems, both negative (global warming effect and acidification) and positive (additional sequestration of both elements in plant biomass). 

Hobbie, S. E. and Chapin, F. S. (1998). The response of tundra plant biomass, aboveground production, nitrogen, and CO, flux to experimental warming. Ecotogy 79, 1526-1544. 

In many dystrophic tropical forests, the largest reservoir of nutrient elements is in the plant biomass. In the total aboveground biomass of 300 Mg/ha of a Colombian tropical rainforest, Rodriguez-Jimenez (1988) measured 2000 kg of nitrogen and 40 kg of phosphorus. This forest is very poor in phosphorus compared with typical tropical forests, which have nitrogen-to-phosphorus... 

Other outputs include harvested plant biomass and detrital export (removing the nitrogen stored in the biomass, or simply wetland outflows where nutrients are exported in water and POM leaving wetlands such as in tidal marshes or riparian wetlands). 

Reddy and Patrick, 1984 DeBusk and Reddy, 1987). The extent of these processes also increases with nitrogen loading. Measurement of plant tissue nitrogen and biomass can provide an indication of nitrogen removal efficiency by wetlands. 

Alkaloids as biological fertilizers are natural plant products and a part of plant nitrogen and carbon economy. Recent studies report that nitrogen but not on the alkaloid content influences plant biomass growth and primary... 

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