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Low Redox Decreases Potential Phosphorus Limitation on Soil Biogeochemical Cycling Along a Tropical Rainfall Gradient

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Abstract

Humid tropical forests on highly weathered soils are often characterized by low bioavailable phosphorus (P) concentrations. These ecosystems also often experience low and fluctuating redox conditions. Little is known about how soil redox conditions affect P availability and how this might feedback on biogeochemical cycling. Here we used soils from a wet tropical rainfall gradient in Puerto Rico to explore the effects of redox on P bioavailability and associated biogeochemical processes. Concentrations of soil carbon (C) and poorly crystalline iron (Fe) and aluminum (Al) minerals increased at least twofold with increasing rainfall, reflecting stronger anaerobic conditions at wetter sites and associated declines in decomposition. The fraction of the total P pool in the NaOH-extractable organic form also generally increased with increasing rainfall. In a laboratory incubation experiment using three sites along the gradient, P amendment increased aerobic CO2 production. However, anaerobic processes, including anaerobic respiration, Fe reduction, and methanogenesis, increased with P amendment at the driest site only. Microbial biomass C:P ratios decreased with P amendment under anoxic conditions at the driest site, an indicator of possible microbial P limitation at this site. Both microbial biomass C and P concentrations were lower under anoxic conditions than under oxic conditions across all soils, suggesting that anoxic conditions could be a more limiting factor to microbes than P concentrations. Overall, our results demonstrate that redox conditions regulate the extent of P limitation to biogeochemical processes in tropical forest soils. Phosphorus limitation was pronounced in aerated environments with low mean annual rainfall, whereas low redox conditions or associated factors under high rainfall conditions may have a stronger impact on biogeochemical cycling than P availability.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Summer Ahmed, Nikhil Chari, Heather Dang, Omar Gutiérrez del Arroyo, Jordan Stark, Jamarys Torres Diaz, Jesus Gomez, Jess Zimmerman, Jean Lodge, Sarah Stankavich, Grizelle Gonzalez, and Sharon Rodríguez for their support in the laboratory and in the field. Tyler Anthony, Allegra Mayer, Bill McDowell, Christine O’Connell, and Stephen Porder provided helpful advice. We thank the Subject-Matter Editor, Peter Vitousek, and two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments on this manuscript. This work was supported by an NSF Grant to WLS DEB-1457805, as well as the NSF-sponsored Luquillo CZO (EAR-1331841), and LTER (DEB-0620910). Additional support was provided by the DOE Grant TES-DE-FOA-0000749 and the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, McIntire Stennis project CA-B-ECO-7673-MS to WLS. Data from this study are publicly available via Hydroshare (https://www.hydroshare.org/resource/186d2949101f4bba8159818a97b926c5/).

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  1. Author Contributions: YL, AG, and WLS designed the study. YL and AG performed the research and analyzed the data. YL led the paper development, and all authors contributed to writing.

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  1. Department of Soil and Water Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, 32611, USA

    Yang Lin

  2. Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, Berkeley, California, 94720, USA

    Yang Lin & Whendee L. Silver

  3. Department for Geography and Environmental Development, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Be’er Sheva, Israel

    Avner Gross

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Yang Lin and Avner Gross contributed equally to this work.

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Lin, Y., Gross, A. & Silver, W.L. Low Redox Decreases Potential Phosphorus Limitation on Soil Biogeochemical Cycling Along a Tropical Rainfall Gradient. Ecosystems 25, 387–403 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-021-00662-4

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