Incorporating biotic phosphorus-acquisition strategies into soil phosphorus transformation under long-term salinization in a tidal wetland

Abstract

Tidal wetland plants can maintain high primary productivity under salinization, even with low phosphorus (P) availability. However, little is known about how they adapt to salinization-induced ecosystem P limitation over time. We established mesocosms using tidal freshwater wetland soils and the salt-tolerant plant Cyperus malaccensis and subjected them to short-term (6 months) and long-term (3.5 years) salinization. Overall, short-term salinization did not change plant or microbial biomass nitrogen/P ratios, whereas long-term salinization increased both, indicating that short-term salinization did not alter ecosystem P limitation, but long-term salinization exacerbated it. Concurrently, short-term salinization reduced the moderately labile inorganic P (Pi) pool, whereas long-term salinization also reduced the hydrolyzable organic P (Po) and primary mineral P pools. During both short- and long-term salinization, moderately labile Pi mobilization exhibited a negative correlation with Fe sulfide concentration and a positive correlation with Fe(III) concentrations. These results suggested that both short- and long-term salinization obtained P through abiotic P-acquisition strategies. Mobilization of the primary mineral P pool and hydrolyzable Po pools was negatively linked to root arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) biomass and soil alkaline phosphomonoesterase (ALP) activity, respectively. This indicated that long-term salinization acquired P via biotic P-acquisition strategies. Specifically, soil microorganisms increased fungi predominance and thereby increased ALP activity to convert hydrolyzable Po, while tidal wetland plants enhanced root AMF associations to release carboxylate to transform primary mineral P. Overall, our results highlight that abiotic P-acquisition strategies could offset the ecosystem P limitation during short-term salinization, whereas biotic P-acquisition strategies play a more important role in soil P transformation under long-term salinization. Through biotic P-acquisition, tidal wetland ecosystems can maintain high plant primary productivity through biotic P-acquisition even under P-limited conditions, exhibiting increased resilience to sea-level rise.