Purpose. The tropical phosphorus-cycle and its impacts on phosphorus (P) availability are a major uncertainty in projections of forest productivity. In highly weathered soils with low P concentrations, plant and microbial communities depend on biological and physical processes to acquire P. We explored the seasonality and relative importance of drivers controlling the fluctuation of common P pools via processes such as litter production and decomposition, and soil phosphatase activity.
Methods. We analyzed variation of standard tropical soil phosphorus pools over one year. In addition, we measured litterfall, its decomposition rates and soil extracellular phosphatase enzyme activity and tested their relation to the fluctuations in P-fractions. Results. Our results show clear patterns of seasonal variability of soil P fractions during the year. We found that modeled P released during litter decomposition is positively related to change in organic P fractions, while net change in organic P fractions was negatively related to phosphatase activities in the top 5 cm.
Conclusion. We conclude that input of organic P forms by litter decomposition and organically produced phosphatases are the two main factors controlling seasonal soil P fluctuation, and therefore the P economy in P impoverished soils. Organic soil P follows a clear seasonal pattern, indicating tight cycling of the nutrient, while reinforcing the importance of studying soil P as an integrated dynamic system in a tropical forest context.