Is chloride a conservative ion in forest ecosystems?

Chloride (Cl-) has often been assumed to be relatively unreactive in forest ecosystems, and is frequently used as a conservative tracer to calculate fluxes of water and other ions. Recently, however, several studies have detailed cycling of Cl- in vegetation and soils. In this study Cl- budgets are compiled from 32 catchment studies to determine the extent to which Cl- is conserved in the passage through forest ecosystems. Chloride budgets from these sites vary from net retention (input > output) to net release (output > input). In the overall data set, including those sites with very high inputs of seasalt Cl-, there was a strong correspondence between inputs and outputs. However, sites with low Cl- deposition (< 6 kg ha(-1) year(-1)) consistently showed net release of Cl-, suggesting an internal source or a declining internal pool. The results indicate that Cl- may be a conservative ion in sites with high Cl- deposition, but in sites with low deposition Cl- may not be conservative. We discuss the possible causes of the Cl- imbalance and reasons why Cl- may not be conservative in ecosystem functions.