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Mosses influence phosphorus cycling in rich fens by driving redox conditions in shallow soils

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Abstract

Mosses play an integral role in the hydrologic regimes of ecosystems where they cover the soil surface, and thus affect biogeochemical cycling of elements influenced by soil oxidation–reduction (redox) reactions, including the plant growth-limiting nutrients, nitrogen and phosphorus (P). In rich fens where P often limits plant growth, we hypothesized that feedbacks between mosses and redox conditions would determine P availability to shallow-rooted forb species that constitute much of these wetlands’ unusually high plant species diversity. In a moss removal experiment in three fens, forb tissue P and microbial P were greater while anion exchange membrane (AEM) resin P was lower where mosses occurred than where they were removed, suggesting both higher availability and greater demand for P in moss-covered soils. Coupled physicochemical and biological mechanisms drove moss effects on P cycling, ultimately through effects on soil oxygenation or reduction: higher redox potential underlying mosses corresponded to greater microbial activity, phosphatase enzyme activity, and colonization by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), all of which can promote greater P availability to plants. These more oxidized soils stimulated: (1) greater microbial activity and root vigor; (2) correspondingly greater P demand via microbial uptake, forb uptake, and iron (Fe)-P reactions; and (3) greater P supply through soil and root phosphatase activity and AMF colonization. This work demonstrates that mosses improve vascular plant P acquisition by alleviating stresses caused by reducing conditions that would otherwise prevail in shallow underlying soils, thus providing a mechanism by which mosses facilitate plant species diversity in rich fens.

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Acknowledgments

Particular thanks to Alexander Cheesman for sharing his microbial P data for use in this study, and to Ramesh Reddy for facilitating this collaboration. Much appreciation to numerous individuals for help in the field and in the laboratory. Thanks also to Tim Fahey, Steve Hamilton, and Jed Sparks for insightful advice and comments. Funding for this research was provided by the Cornell Program in Biogeochemistry and Environmental Biocomplexity, a Hatch grant from the US Department of Agriculture, and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Science to Achieve Results (STAR) Graduate Fellowship Program. EPA has not officially endorsed this publication, and the views expressed herein may not reflect the views of the EPA.

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  1. Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Box AB, 2801 Sharon Turnpike, Millbrook, NY, 12545, USA

    Katherine F. Crowley

  2. Department of Natural Resources, Fernow Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14850, USA

    Barbara L. Bedford

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  1. Katherine F. Crowley
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  2. Barbara L. Bedford
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Correspondence to Katherine F. Crowley.

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Communicated by Håkan Wallander.

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Crowley, K.F., Bedford, B.L. Mosses influence phosphorus cycling in rich fens by driving redox conditions in shallow soils. Oecologia 167, 253–264 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-011-1970-8

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