Adaptation to exploit nitrate in surface soils predisposes yellow-cedar to climate-induced decline while enhancing the survival of western redcedar: A new hypothesis

Yellow-cedar (Chamaecyparis nootkatensis (D. Don) Spach) and western redcedar (Thuja plicata Donn), two valuable tree species of Pacific Northwest forests, are competitive in low productivity forests on wet, nearly saturated soils with low nitrogen (N) availability and turnover. We propose a mechanism where cedar trees survive in marginal conditions through exploiting a coupled Ca–NO3− nutrient cycle where trees assimilate N as nitrate (NO3−), but must accumulate a counter-ion to NO3− such as calcium (Ca+2) to control their internal cell pH and provide electrochemical balance. The availability of NO3− in cedar forests is favored by increased microbial activity and shifts in microbial community composition that is conducive to N mineralization and nitrification at higher pH. Cedars influence the soils under their canopy by enriching the forest floor with calcium compounds leading to increases in pH. Cedars are also prone to precocious dehardening in the spring when N is released from freeze–thaw events in the soils and conditions appear to favor nitrifying microbial communities. Cedars must concentrate fine-root biomass near the soil surface to access Ca and NO3−, but this beneficial physiological adaptation also creates a vulnerability to periodic root freezing injury that is leading to the decline and mortality of at least one of them—yellow-cedar.