On the potential vegetation feedbacks that enhance phosphorus availability : insights from a process-based model linking geological and ecological time scales [Discussion paper]
- In old and heavily weathered soils, the availability of P might be so small that the primary production of plants is limited. However, plants have evolved several mechanisms to actively take up P from the soil or mine it to overcome this limitation. These mechanisms involve the active uptake of P mediated by mycorrhiza, biotic de-occlusion through root clusters, and the biotic enhancement of weathering through root exudation. The objective of this paper is to investigate how and where these processes contribute to alleviate P limitation on primary productivity. To do so, we propose a process-based model accounting for the major processes of the carbon, water, and P cycle including chemical weathering at the global scale. We use simulation experiments to assess the relative importance of the different uptake mechanisms to alleviate P limitation on biomass production. Implementing P limitation on biomass synthesis allows the assessment of the efficiencies of biomass production across different ecosystems. We find that active P-uptake is an essential mechanism for sustaining P availability on long time scales, whereas biotic de-occlusion might serve as a buffer on time scales shorter than 10 000 yr. Although active P uptake is essential for reducing P losses by leaching, humid lowland soils reach P limitation after around 100 000 yr of soil evolution. Given the generalized modeling framework, our model results compare reasonably with observed or independently estimated patterns and ranges of P concentrations in soils and vegetation. Furthermore, our simulations suggest that P limitation might be an important driver of biomass production efficiency (the fraction of the gross primary productivity used for biomass growth), and that vegetation on older soils becomes P-limited leading to a smaller biomass production efficiency. With this study, we provide a theoretical basis for investigating the responses of terrestrial ecosystems to P availability linking geological and ecological time scales under different environmental settings.
Author: | Corina Buendía, Susanne Arens, Thomas HicklerORCiD, Steven Ian Higgins, Philipp Porada, Axel Kleidon |
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URN: | urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-329759 |
DOI: | https://doi.org/10.5194/bgd-10-19347-2013 |
ISSN: | 1810-6277 |
Parent Title (English): | Biogeosciences discussions |
Publisher: | European Geosciences Union |
Place of publication: | Katlenburg-Lindau |
Document Type: | Article |
Language: | English |
Date of Publication (online): | 2013/12/10 |
Date of first Publication: | 2013/12/10 |
Publishing Institution: | Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg |
Release Date: | 2014/02/03 |
Volume: | 10 |
Page Number: | 61 |
First Page: | 19347 |
Last Page: | 19407 |
Note: | © Author(s) 2013. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. |
HeBIS-PPN: | 363865209 |
Institutes: | Geowissenschaften / Geographie / Geowissenschaften |
Fachübergreifende Einrichtungen / Biodiversität und Klima Forschungszentrum (BiK-F) | |
Dewey Decimal Classification: | 5 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik / 55 Geowissenschaften, Geologie / 550 Geowissenschaften |
5 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik / 57 Biowissenschaften; Biologie / 570 Biowissenschaften; Biologie | |
Sammlungen: | Universitätspublikationen |
Sammlung Biologie / Sondersammelgebiets-Volltexte | |
Licence (German): | Creative Commons - Namensnennung 3.0 |