Abiotic Nitrite Incorporation into Organic Matter in Volcanic and Non-Volcanic Soil Within Rainforest Ecosystems

Abstract

Understanding nitrogen (N) retention mechanisms in pristine humid temperate rainforest soils is critical for effective ecosystem management and nutrient conservation. The potential abiotic transformation of nitrite (NO2−) into organic N forms in the absence of microbial activity in these ecosystems remains largely unexplored, despite its role in mitigating N leaching. This study focuses on the abiotic incorporation of nitrite (NO2−) into dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) under anoxic conditions, a mechanistic step not directly evaluated in previous research, which employed 15N-labelled nitrate (NO3−). To address this gap, we used 15N-labelled NO2− at 5 and 15 mg L−1 in a lab incubation study under anoxic conditions to trace the contribution of abiotic nitrite transformation to organic N formation in organic matter-rich soils from temperate rainforests developed on both volcanic and non-volcanic parent materials. The added 15N declined rapidly after 15 min by 52% and 60% in both soil solutions, while it started to form labelled DON, increasing by 11% and 34%, after five days of incubation, with the highest accumulation at 15 mg L−1 of 15N-NO2−. These results show that up to 77% of the added 15N-NO2− can be abiotically incorporated into the DON of unpolluted old-growth temperate rainforest, whether developed on volcanic or non-volcanic soils. Nitrogen input has a stronger effect than soil parent material from which the soils originate. This reveals the natural resilience of unpolluted temperate rainforests to N loss, with implications for long-term ecosystem stability and nutrient cycling.