Abstract
Background and aims
Phosphorus (P) availability is crucial for forest ecosystem productivity and soil organic matter (SOM) is an important source for P. This study was conducted to reveal carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and P distributions in functional SOM fractions. We hypothesised that (1) most of the organic P (Porg) is part of the particulate SOM, (2) particulate SOM stores increasing share of P with decreasing soil P content and (3) the C:Porg ratio of mineral-associated SOM is smaller than that of particulate SOM.
Methods
We analysed soil samples from five temperate forest sites (Fagus sylvatica) under different geological parent material with a wide range of total P concentrations. Density fractionation was used to separate free light fraction (fLF), particulate SOM occluded within soil aggregates (occluded light fraction; oLF), and mineral associated SOM (heavy fraction; HF). We determined the mass balance of P in these fractions, in addition to the C and N concentrations. Additionally, the P speciation of the topsoil was analysed by X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) spectroscopy at the P K-edge.
Results
The fLF contained 18–54% and the oLF 1–15% of total P (Ptot). High percentage of P in these light fractions was associated to soil minerals. Phosphorous in particulate SOM within aggregates tend to increase with decreasing soil P. The HF containing mineral-associated OM, comprised 38–71% of Ptot and their C:Porg ratios were consistently lower than those of the fLF irrespective of the P status of the soil.
Conclusions
We show that all three functional SOM fractions contain variable amount of both organic and inorganic P species. The free light fraction shows no response to changing P stocks of soils.. Despite physically protected particulate SOM, oLF, becomes increasingly relevant as P cache in soils with declining P status.
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Abbreviations
- DOM:
-
Dissolved organic matter
- fLF:
-
Free light fraction
- HF:
-
Heavy fraction
- ICP-OES:
-
Inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry
- LCF:
-
Linear combination fitting
- oLF:
-
Occluded light fraction
- OM:
-
Organic matter
- SOM:
-
Soil organic matter
- SPT:
-
Sodium polytungstate
- UV/VIS:
-
Ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy
- XANES:
-
X-ray absorption near edge structure
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Acknowledgements
We want to thank the German Research Foundation DFG for funding this study as part of the priority program SPP 1685 (Projects: LA 1398/12-1, MI 1377/7-1and PR 534/6-1) and Sigrid Hiesch for the carefully realisation of the HNO3/HClO4/HF digestion.
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Stahr, S., Graf-Rosenfellner, M., Klysubun, W. et al. Phosphorus speciation and C:N:P stoichiometry of functional organic matter fractions in temperate forest soils. Plant Soil 427, 53–69 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-017-3394-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-017-3394-7