Phosphorus rather than nitrogen enhances CO2 emissions in tropical forest soils: Evidence from a laboratory incubation study

Ecosystem functional responses such as soil CO2 emissions are constrained by microclimate, available carbon (C) substrates and their effects upon microbial activity. In tropical forests, phosphorus (P) is often considered as a limiting factor for plant growth, but it is still not clear whether P constrains microbial CO2 emissions from soils. In this study, we incubated seven tropical forest soils from Brazil and Puerto Rico with different nutrient addition treatments (no addition, Control; C, nitrogen (N) or P addition only; and combined C, N and P addition (CNP)). Cumulative soil CO2 emissions were fit with a Gompertz model to estimate potential maximum cumulative soil CO2 emission (C-m) and the rate of change of soil C decomposition (k). Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) was conducted to quantify microbial biomass as bacteria and fungi. Results showed that P addition alone or in combination with C and N enhanced C-m, whereas N addition usually reduced C-m, and neither N nor P affected microbial biomass. Additions of CNP enhanced k, increased microbial abundances and altered fungal to bacterial ratios towards higher fungal abundance. Additions of CNP, however, tended to reduce C-m for most soils when compared to C additions alone, suggesting that microbial growth associated with nutrient additions may have occurred at the expense of C decomposition. Overall, this study demonstrates that soil CO2 emission is more limited by P than N in tropical forest soils and those effects were stronger in soils low in P. Highlights A laboratory incubation study was conducted with nitrogen, phosphorus or carbon addition to tropical forest soils. Soil CO2 emission was fitted with a Gompertz model and soil microbial abundance was quantified using qPCR. Phosphorus addition increased model parameters C-m and soil CO2 emission, particularly in the Puerto Rico soils. Soil CO2 emission was more limited by phosphorus than nitrogen in tropical forest soils.