# Carbon and Nitrogen Pools and Fluxes in Adjacent Mature Norway Spruce and European Beech Forests
## 3 Results
### Carbon and Nitrogen Fluxes  
#### Water, Carbon and Nitrogen Fluxes in Precipitation and Soil Leachate  
The average site precipitation depth was 1092 mm\(\cdot\)year\({}^{-1}\) between 2013 and 2015. Interception was 331 mm\(\cdot\)year\({}^{-1}\) in the spruce forest and 194 mm\(\cdot\)year\({}^{-1}\) in the beech forest. Evaporation from soil and plant transpiration was higher in the beech stand (584 mm) compared to the spruce stand (450 mm). Thus, total evapotranspiration (ET, including interception) was comparable among stands. Precipitation input of DOC in bulk deposition was 21 kg\(\cdot\)ha\({}^{-1}\)\(\cdot\)year\({}^{-1}\) over the period 2013-2015. A significantly (\(p\) < 0.001) higher concentration of throughfall DOC was measured in the spruce forest compared to the beech forest, representing a flux of 80 kg\(\cdot\)ha\({}^{-1}\)\(\cdot\)year\({}^{-1}\) in the spruce forest and 36 kg\(\cdot\)ha\({}^{-1}\)\(\cdot\)year\({}^{-1}\) in the beech forest. In the beech stand, additional input of DOC via stemflow accounted for 11 kg\(\cdot\)ha\({}^{-1}\)\(\cdot\)year\({}^{-1}\). Throughfall DOC flux was 1.7\(\times\) higher in the spruce stand compared to the beech stand. Total nitrogen bulk deposition was 11.1 kg\(\cdot\)ha\({}^{-1}\)\(\cdot\)year\({}^{-1}\), of which DON accounted for 14%, N-NH\({}_{4}\) for 54% and N-NO\({}_{3}\) for 32%. Only DON concentration in throughfall was significantly (\(p\) = 0.003) higher in the spruce stand compared to the beech stand. Inorganic N throughfall concentrations did not differ significantly between forests. Spruce throughfall total N \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l c c c c c c c c c c c c} \hline \hline  & \multicolumn{4}{c}{**Spruuce Stand**} & \multicolumn{4}{c}{**Beech Stand**} \\ \hline  & Fine soil & C & N & C/N & C & N & Fine soil & C & N & C/N & C & N \\  & kg ha\({}^{-1}\) & & & g\(\cdot\)g\({}^{-1}\) & \% & \% & kg ha\({}^{-1}\) & & & g\(\cdot\)g\({}^{-1}\) & \% & \% \\ L & 36,505 & 16,026 & 586 & 27.3 & (0.41) & (0.08) & 28,940 & 13,135 & 509 & 25.8 & & 45.8 & 1.79 \\  & & & & & & 31.6 & 1.35 & & & & (1.85) & (0.09) \\ FH & 95,838 & 21,386 & 916 & 23.3 & (3.30) & (0.18) & 142,565 & 52,225 & 2627 & 19.9 & 36.7 & 1.84 \\  & & & & & 6.7 & 0.24 & & & & & 36.7 & 1.84 \\
0–10 & 540,305 & 36,817 & 1325 & 27.8 & (1.74) & (0.04) & 467,559 & 47,127 & 2035 & 23.2 & & (2.20) & (0.09) \\  & & & & 3.1 & 0.13 & & & & & & 6.5 & 0.26 \\
10–20 & 508,009 & 15,707 & 638 & 24.6 & (0.45) & (0.01) & 533,821 & 34,929 & 1378 & 25.3 & & 6.5 & 0.26 \\  & & & & & 2.2 & 0.09 & & & & & (0.36) & (0.02) \\
20–40 & 1,031,098 & 23,653 & 999 & 23.7 & (0.48) & (0.02) & 1,022,629 & 51,265 & 1999 & 25.7 & 5.1 & 0.2 \\ Total & 2,211,754 & 113,590 & 4464 & 25.4 & & & 2,195,514 & 198,681 & 8547 & 23.2 & & \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 3: Pools (kg\(\cdot\)ha\({}^{-1}\)) of fine soil (LFH < 5 mm; 0–40 cm < 2 mm), carbon, and nitrogen and the mass ratio of C:N in spruce and beech soils. Total C and N concentration in soil profiles of spruce and beech forests; standard deviations in parentheses and significant differences (\(p\) < 0.05) among stands are highlighted in bold. flux was 17.6 kg\(\cdot\)ha\({}^{-1}\cdot\)year\({}^{-1}\) and DON accounted for 23% of throughfall N flux. Beech total N throughfall flux was 16.3 kg\(\cdot\)ha\({}^{-1}\cdot\)year\({}^{-1}\) and DON accounted for 9%. Beech stemflow of total N was 1.9 kg\(\cdot\)ha\({}^{-1}\cdot\)year\({}^{-1}\). Total N flux in the soil surface of the beech forest was thus 18.2 kg\(\cdot\)ha\({}^{-1}\cdot\)year\({}^{-1}\) over the period 2013-2015 (Table 4). The calculated seepage flux of water under the forest floor was higher for the beech stand (443 \(\pm\) 61 mm) compared to the spruce stand (336 \(\pm\) 96 mm). Despite significantly (\(p<\) 0.001) higher DOC concentrations in the forest floor soil water in the spruce stand (53 \(\pm\) 16 mg\(\cdot\)L\({}^{-1}\)) compared to the beech stand (40 \(\pm\) 7.6 mg\(\cdot\)L\({}^{-1}\)), the resulting average annual fluxes of DOC were similar.