Dissolved and colloidal phosphorus fluxes in forest ecosystems—an almost blind spot in ecosystem research
Researchers of the IBG 3 and co-workers have published an extensive review on the magnitude and relevance of phosphorus (P) transport fluxes and losses in temperate forest in the Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science. The paper deals with inorganic and organic P present in forms (e.g. soluble and colloidal) that can be translocated within or exported from these forest ecosystems. Specially, importance of hydrological pathways linking P source and P loss, (e.g. through preferential pathways and hill slope processes), and the subsequent influence of P on the stream biocenosis. It includes new data from the German Priority Program 1685 “Ecosystem Nutrition: Forest Strategies for limited Phosphorus Resources” in which all 30+ authors participate. Interestingly, our review found an (unexpected) scarcity of data on P fluxes in temperate forest ecosystems that severely limit considerations on its forest P nutrition and associated losses. Overall, actual P-flux measurements in these temperate forest systems seem to have more or less been neglected in the last 20 years. Hence the title of the review.
Bol, R., Julich, D., Brödlin, D., Siemens, J., Dippold, M.A., Spielvogel, S., Zilla, T., Mewes, D., von Blanckenburg, F., Puhlmann H., Holzmann, S., Kaiser, K., Weiler, M., Amelung, W., Lang, F., Kuzyakov, Y., Feger, K.H., Gottselig, N., Klumpp, E. , Missong, A., Winkelmann, C., Uhlig, D., Sohrt, S., von Wilpert, K., Bei Wu, B., Hagedorn, F (2016). Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science, doi: 10.1002/jpln.201600079.