Short Communication
Rapid root assimilation of added phosphorus in a lowland tropical rainforest of French Guiana

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2019.107646Get rights and content

Highlights

  • •

    Trees quickly and effectively take up P after fertilization with NxP fertilizer.

  • •

    Nitrogen is not rapidly taken up after fertilization.

  • •

    Combination of PRS probes and RECs reveals fate of added nutrients.

Abstract

Tree growth on weathered soils in lowland tropical forests is limited by low phosphorous (P) availability. However, nutrient manupulation experiments do not always increase the P content in these trees, which raises the question whether trees are taking up added P. In French Guianese lowland rainforest, we measured changes in nitrogen (N) and P availability before and up to two months after N and P fertilizer addition, in soils with intact root systems and in soils where roots and mycorrhizal fungi were excluded by root exclusion cylinders. When the root system was excluded, P addition increased P availability to a much greater extent and for a longer time than in soils with an intact root system. Soil N dynamics were unaffected by root presence/absence. These results indicate rapid P uptake, but not N uptake, by tree roots, suggesting a very effective P acquisition process in these lowland rainforests.

Section snippets

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the European Research Council Synergy grant ERC-2013-SyG. 610028-IMBALANCE-P. We thank the staff of the Paracou station, managed by UMR Ecofog (CIRAD; INRA, Kourou). The research station received support from “Investissement d’Avenir” grants managed by Agence Nationale de la Recherche (CEBA: ANR-10-LABX-25-01, ANAEE France: ANR-11-INBS-0001).

References (25)

  • T.W. Walker et al.

    The fate of phosphorus during pedogenesis

    Geoderma

    (1976)
  • P.J. Barra et al.

    Understanding the strategies to overcome phosphorus–deficiency and aluminum–toxicity by ryegrass endophytic and rhizosphere phosphobacteria

    Frontiers in Microbiology

    (2018)
  • S. Buehler et al.

    Sequential phosphorus extraction of a 33P-labeled oxisol under contrasting agricultural systems

    Soil Science Society of America Journal

    (2002)
  • T. Camenzind et al.

    Nutrient limitation of soil microbial processes in tropical forests

    Ecological Monographs

    (2018)
  • C.C. Cleveland et al.

    Relationships among net primary productivity, nutrients and climate in tropical rain forest: a pan-tropical analysis

    Ecology Letters

    (2011)
  • N. Fanin et al.

    (A)synchronous availabilities of N and P regulate the activity and structure of the microbial decomposer community

    Front. Microbiol.

    (2016)
  • A.L. Gill et al.

    Belowground carbon flux links biogeochemical cycles and resource-use efficiency at the global scale

    Ecology Letters

    (2016)
  • S. Gourlet-Fleury et al.

    Ecology and Management of a Neotropical Rainforest. Lessons Drawn from Paracou, a Long-Term Experimental Research Site in French Guiana

    (2004)
  • O. Grau et al.

    Nutrient-cycling mechanisms other than the direct absorption from soil may control forest structure and dynamics in poor Amazonian soils

    Sci Rep

    (2017)
  • L.O. Hedin et al.

    The nitrogen paradox in tropical forest ecosystems

    Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics

    (2009)
  • W.Z. Huang et al.

    Seasonal and spatial variations in soil nitrogen and phosphorus supply rates in a boreal aspen forest

    Canadian Journal of Soil Science

    (1997)
  • D. Minz et al.

    Plant rhizosphere microbial communities

    • Cited by (0)

    View full text
    © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.