Biological processes dominate phosphorus dynamics under low phosphorus availability in organic horizons of temperate forest soils

Understanding the mechanisms underlying phosphorus (P) availability is important to predict forest productivity in a changing environment. We quantified P fluxes and traced P from plant litter into inorganic and organic soil P pools in organic horizons from two contrasting temperate forest soils with low and high inorganic P availability, respectively. We incubated the two organic horizons with and without litter after labelling the soil solution with P-33 and performed sequential extractions at several time points in order to trace P dynamics in labile (water extractable, available and microbial P) and non-labile (non-living organic P, P bound to iron and aluminium and P bound to calcium) pools. Under low P availability, P fluxes were dominated by gross P mineralization, and microbial P immobilization accounted for up to 95% of gross P mineralization. Additionally, labile P in plant litter was rapidly incorporated into microbial P and only a small fraction ended up in the non-labile inorganic P pools. In contrast, P fluxes under high P availability were dominated by abiotic processes, particularly by fast (within 10 days) sorption/desorption reactions between the available P and the P bound to aluminium. These findings support the hypothesis that under low P availability biological processes control P fluxes. The observed tight cycling of P, with little efflux due to net P mineralization, suggests that the mineralization of organic P is driven by microbial P demand, and that the microbial community could compete with plants for available P.