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Measuring Phosphorus Release in Laboratory Microcosms for Water Quality Assessment
Published on: July 22, 2019
Nitrogen and phosphorus limitation over long-term ecosystem development in terrestrial ecosystems
Duncan N L Menge1, Lars O Hedin, Stephen W Pacala
1Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, United States of America. dmenge@princeton.edu
Plos One
|August 8, 2012
Summary
Ecosystem nutrient limitation, whether nitrogen (N) or phosphorus (P), depends on soil age, symbiotic N fixation (SNF), and weathering rates. Transitions occur over decades to centuries, with SNF capacity critically influencing N limitation.
Area of Science:
- Ecology
- Biogeochemistry
- Ecosystem Dynamics
Background:
- Nutrient limitation to net primary production (NPP) varies across ecosystems and timescales.
- Ecosystems can shift from nitrogen (N) to phosphorus (P) limitation with development, or remain N-limited.
Purpose of the Study:
- Investigate conditions favoring N versus P limitation.
- Determine when transitions between N and P limitation occur during ecosystem development.
Main Methods:
- Analyzed transient dynamics of an ecosystem model across multiple timescales.
- Modeled post-disturbance dynamics influenced by rates of plant uptake, litter turnover, mortality, nutrient loss, and weathering.
Main Results:
- Young ecosystems are N-limited with constrained symbiotic N fixation (SNF) and high P weathering, or P-limited under opposite conditions.
- In the absence of SNF, N limitation often intensifies over succession due to faster P mineralization.
- Long-term N limitation on older soils is influenced by a balance between nutrient input/loss dynamics and weathering depletion.
Conclusions:
- Nutrient limitation is critically dependent on symbiotic N fixation (SNF) capacity.
- Transitions from N to P limitation over long timescales are primarily controlled by phosphorus (P) weathering rates.
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