Long-term organic phosphorus mineralization in Spodosols under forests and its relation to carbon and nitrogen mineralization

In forest soils where a large fraction of total phosphorus (P) is in organic forms, soil micro-organisms play a major role in the P cycle and plant availability since they mediate organic P transformations. However, the correct assessment of organic P mineralization is usually a challenging task because mineralized P is rapidly sorbed and most mineralization fluxes are very weak. The objectives of the present work were to quantify in five forest Spodosols at soil depths of 0–15 cm net mineralization of total organic P and the resulting increase in plant available inorganic P and to verify whether net or gross P mineralization could be estimated using the C or N mineralization rates. Net mineralization of total organic P was derived from the net changes in microbial P and gross mineralization of P in dead soil organic matter. We studied very low P-sorbing soils enabling us to use lower extractants to assess the change in total inorganic P as a result of gross mineralization of P in dead soil organic matter. In addition, to enable detection of gross mineralization of P in dead soil organic matter, a long-term incubation (517 days) experiment was carried out. At the beginning of the experiment, total P contents of the soils were very low (19–51 μg g−1) and were essentially present as organic P (17–44 μg g−1, 85–91%) or microbial P (6–14 μg g−1; 24–39%). Conversely, the initial contents of inorganic P were low (2–7 μg g−1; 9–15%). The net changes in the pool size of microbial P during the 517 days of incubation (4–8 μg g−1) and the amounts of P resulting from gross mineralization of dead soil organic matter (0.001–0.018 μg g−1 day−1; 0.4–9.5 μg g−1 for the entire incubation period) were considerable compared to the initial amounts of organic P and also when compared to the initial diffusive iP fraction (<0.3 μg g−1). Diffusive iP corresponds to the phosphate ions that can be transferred from the solid constituents to the soil solution under a gradient of concentration. Net mineralization of organic P induced an important increase in iP in soil solution (0.6–10 μg g−1; 600–5000% increase) and lower increases in diffusive iP fractions (0.3–5 μg g−1; 300–2000% increase), soil solid constituents having an extremely low reactivity relative to iP. Therefore, soil micro-organisms and organic P transformations play a major role in the bioavailability of P in these forest soils. In our study, the dead soil organic matter was defined as a recalcitrant organic fraction. Probably because gross mineralization of P from this recalcitrant organic fraction was mainly driven by the micro-organisms’ needs for energy, the rates of gross mineralization of C, N and P in the recalcitrant organic fraction were similar. Indirect estimation of gross mineralization of P in dead soil organic matter using the gross C mineralization rate seems thus an alternative method for the studied soils. However, additional studies are needed to verify this alternative method in other soils. No relationships were found between microbial P release and microbial C and N releases.