Biological processes dominate phosphorus dynamics under low phosphorus availability in organic horizons of temperate forest soils

Abstract

Understanding the mechanisms underlying phosphorus (P) availability is important to predict forest productivity in a changing environment. We quantified P fluxes and traced P from plant litter into inorganic and organic soil P pools in organic horizons from two contrasting temperate forest soils with low and high inorganic P availability, respectively. We incubated the two organic horizons with and without litter after labelling the soil solution with 33P and performed sequential extractions at several time points in order to trace P dynamics in labile (water-extractable, available and microbial P) and non-labile (non-living organic P, P bound to iron and aluminium and P bound to calcium) pools. Under low P availability, P fluxes were dominated by gross P mineralization, and microbial P immobilization accounted for up to 95% of gross P mineralization. Additionally, labile P in plant litter was rapidly incorporated into microbial P and only a small fraction ended up in the non-labile inorganic P pools. In contrast, P fluxes under high P availability were dominated by abiotic processes, particularly by fast (within 10 days) sorption/desorption reactions between the available P and the P bound to aluminium. These findings support the hypothesis that under low P availability biological processes control P fluxes. The observed tight cycling of P, with little efflux due to net P mineralization, suggests that the mineralization of organic P is driven by microbial P demand, and that the microbial community could compete with plants for available P.