Seasonal and spatial variation of nitrogen dynamics in the litter and surface soil layers on a tropical dry evergreen forest slope

Seasonal and spatial variability of litterfall and NO3− and NH4+ leaching from the litter layer and 5-cm soil depth were investigated along a slope in a tropical dry evergreen forest in northeastern Thailand. Using ion exchange resin and buried bag methods, the vertical flux and transformation of inorganic nitrogen (N) were observed during four periods (dry, early wet, middle wet, and late wet seasons) at 15 subplots in a 180-m × 40-m rectangular plot on the slope. Annual N input via litterfall and inorganic N leached from the litter layer and from 5-cm depth soil were 12.5, 6.9, and 3.7 g N m−2 year−1, respectively, whereas net mineralization and the inorganic N pool in 0–5-cm soil were 7.1 g N m−2 year−1 and 1.4 g N m−2, respectively. During the early wet season (90 days), we observed 82% and 74% of annual NO3− leaching from the litter layer and 5-cm soil depth, respectively. Higher N input via leaf litterfall in the dry season and via precipitation in the early wet season may have led to higher NO3− leaching rate from litter and surface soil layers during the early wet season. Large spatial variability in both NO3− vertical flux and litterfall was also observed within stands. Small-scale spatial patterns of total N input via litterfall were significantly correlated with NO3− leaching rate from the surface soil layer. In tropical dry evergreen forests, litterfall variability may be crucial to the remarkable seasonal changes and spatial variation in annual NO3− vertical flux in surface soil layers.