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Soil organic matter regulates molybdenum storage and mobility in forests

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Abstract

The trace element molybdenum (Mo) is essential to a suite of nitrogen (N) cycling processes in ecosystems, but there is limited information on its distribution within soils and relationship to plant and bedrock pools. We examined soil, bedrock, and plant Mo variation across 24 forests spanning wide soil pH gradients on both basaltic and sedimentary lithologies in the Oregon Coast Range. We found that the oxidizable organic fraction of surface mineral soil accounted for an average of 33 % of bulk soil Mo across all sites, followed by 1.4 % associated with reducible Fe, Al, and Mn-oxides, and 1.4 % in exchangeable ion form. Exchangeable Mo was greatest at low pH, and its positive correlation with soil carbon (C) suggests organic matter as the source of readily exchangeable Mo. Molybdenum accumulation integrated over soil profiles to 1 m depth (τMoNb) increased with soil C, indicating that soil organic matter regulates long-term Mo retention and loss from soil. Foliar Mo concentrations displayed no relationship with bulk soil Mo, and were not correlated with organic horizon Mo or soil extractable Mo, suggesting active plant regulation of Mo uptake and/or poor fidelity of extractable pools to bioavailability. We estimate from precipitation sampling that atmospheric deposition supplies, on average, over 10 times more Mo annually than does litterfall to soil. In contrast, bedrock lithology had negligible effects on foliar and soil Mo concentrations and on Mo distribution among soil fractions. We conclude that atmospheric inputs may be a significant source of Mo to forest ecosystems, and that strong Mo retention by soil organic matter limits ecosystem Mo loss via dissolution and leaching pathways.

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Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge Justin Hynicka for field site selection, collecting the soil, bedrock, and foliar samples, and for sample analysis on bedrock and bulk soil. Andy Ungerer of the Oregon State University Keck Collaboratory for Plasma Spectrometry, and Chris Catricala, Lauren Armony, Clarinda Wilson, and George Pope are thanked for assistance with lab analyses. We thank Kurt Smemo and two anonymous reviewers for comments which improved the manuscript. Any use of trade names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. NSF award 1053470 to Pett-Ridge supported this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department. Crop & Soil Science, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, 97331, USA

    Jade A. Marks & Julie Pett-Ridge

  2. US Geological Survey, Forest and Range Ecosystem Science Center, 3200 SW Jefferson Way, Corvallis, OR, 97331, USA

    Steven S. Perakis

  3. College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, 97331, USA

    Elizabeth K. King

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  1. Jade A. Marks
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Correspondence to Julie Pett-Ridge.

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Marks, J.A., Perakis, S.S., King, E.K. et al. Soil organic matter regulates molybdenum storage and mobility in forests. Biogeochemistry 125, 167–183 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-015-0121-4

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