Simulation of a grassland sulfur-cycle
1980
Coughenour, M.B. | Parton, W.J. | Lauenroth, W.K. | Dodd, J.L. | Woodmansee, R.G. (Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins (USA). Natural Resource Ecology Lab.)
A simulation model was developed as a conceptual tool for organizing information on sulfur-cycling in a grassland ecosystem. The model successfully simulated the concentration of sulfur in shoots of two plant-functional-groups over the course of two growing seasons, and seemed to represent realistically such processes as microbial mineralization-immobilization, sulfate adsorption by soil, and nematode consumption. The greatest transfers of sulfur in the system were between soil sulfate and microorganisms. Various turnover rates were calculated, ranging from 3 x 10E-5 yr (of the total labile sulfur) for the most resistant components of humus, to 10/yr for the highly labile metabolic litter component. Only 2-4 per cent of the total system-flux of sulfur was reapportioned among system components, indicating that the model system was near equilibrium
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