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Updated: Apr 3, 2026

Measuring Phosphorus Release in Laboratory Microcosms for Water Quality Assessment
Published on: July 22, 2019
Global Phosphorus Enrichment Reshapes Terrestrial Phosphorus Cycling
Zixin Chen1,2,3, Kai Dong4, Julian Helfenstein5
1State Key Laboratory of Forage Breeding-By-Design and Utilization; Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
None:
Anthropogenic phosphorus (P) inputs are rapidly altering terrestrial P cycling through plant - soil - microbial interactions; however, global patterns and underlying mechanisms driving these changes remain poorly understood. By performing a global meta-analysis of 1315 observations from 176 studies across diverse natural terrestrial ecosystems, we found that P addition increased P concentrations in foliage, stems, roots, and litter by 62%, 114%, 100% and 63%, respectively. Soil total P, plant-available P, and microbial P concentrations rose by 43%, 221%, and 70%, while leaf P-resorption efficiency and soil phosphatase activity declined by 23% and 15%, respectively. Stem P and soil phosphatase activity exhibited consistent trends across tropical, temperate, and boreal zones, suggesting climate-specific P acquisition strategies. In addition, foliar P responses diverged among ecosystem and plant functional types. These responses were primarily regulated by background soil total P concentration, precipitation, soil pH, and P addition duration and rate. Our findings provide critical insights into the potential consequences of increasing anthropogenic P inputs in natural terrestrial ecosystems, improving our understanding of nutrient cycling and informing future ecosystem management under ongoing global change.
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