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Evaluation of the phosphorus status of P-deficient podzols in temperate pine stands: combining isotopic dilution and extraction methods

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Abstract

Phosphorus (P) is often a limiting factor of forest growth but our knowledge of the processes governing P availability in forest soils is rather limited. In the present work, we combined a isotopic dilution method with extraction methods to evaluate the P status in Pinus pinaster plantation forests on highly P-deficient soils. Total, organic, and inorganic P, dissolved and diffusive P, i.e. ionic P species that can be transferred from the solid phase to the soil solution due a gradient of concentration, were determined to a soil depth of 120 cm in a gradient of 18 forest sites (seven humid sites, five mesic sites, and six dry sites). Our objective was to assess the potential contribution of organic and inorganic P to plant available P. Based on results and our original assumptions, we observed that the contribution of organic P fractions (mineralization of soil organic P) to P availability related to the contribution of inorganic P fractions (diffusive P for durations up to 1 year) was predominant in litter, less important in top soil horizons, and negligible at depths below 30 cm. This was partly due to a decreasing proportion of organic P and an increasing proportion of diffusive P with soil depth. Owing to a very low amount of diffusive P in the top soils in dry sites, the relative contribution of organic P was actually higher in these sites than in humid and mesic sites, despite a lower overall organic P fraction. The combination of extraction and isotopic dilution methods in our study shed new light on P status in this forest range. In particular, these methods enable assessment of both the size of the pools and their dynamic fractions.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Christian Barbot, Sylvie Niollet, Stéphane Thunot, Alain Mollier, Xavier Cavard and Elise Jolicoeur for their help in sampling soils and Victor Jean-Paul-Romero, Marc Pucheu-Planté and Nicolas Proix (LAS-INRA) for the chemical analyses. We also thank Daphne Goodfellow for revising the English and E. Matzner and the two anonymous reviewers for constructive comments on the manuscript. Financial supports of this work were provided by ENITAB (Ecole Nationale d’Ingénieurs des Travaux Agricoles de Bordeaux, France) and the Aquitaine region, France within the framework of the FORSEE (Gestion durable des FORêts: un réSEau de zones pilotes pour la mise en oeuvre opérationnellE) project and the “Durabilité du système de production forêt-bois d’Aquitaine” project with the help of Céline Meredieu (INRA).

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  1. ENITA de Bordeaux, UMR 1220 TCEM (INRA-ENITAB), 71 Avenue E Bourlaux, 33883, Villenave d’Ornon, France

    David L. Achat, Mark R. Bakker & Etienne Saur

  2. INRA, UMR 1220 TCEM (INRA-ENITAB), 71 Avenue E Bourlaux, 33883, Villenave d’Ornon, France

    Laurent Augusto, Lysiane Dousseron & Christian Morel

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  1. David L. Achat
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  2. Mark R. Bakker
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  3. Laurent Augusto
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  5. Lysiane Dousseron
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Correspondence to Mark R. Bakker.

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Achat, D.L., Bakker, M.R., Augusto, L. et al. Evaluation of the phosphorus status of P-deficient podzols in temperate pine stands: combining isotopic dilution and extraction methods. Biogeochemistry 92, 183–200 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-008-9283-7

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