Fresh litter acts as a substantial phosphorus source of plant species appearing in primary succession on volcanic ash soil.

ABSTRACT: Plants have difficulty absorbing phosphorus from volcanic ash soils owing to the adsorption of phosphorus by aluminum and iron in the soils. Thus, on volcanic ash soils, the phosphorus source for natural vegetation is expected to be organic matter, however, there is a lack of experimental evidence regarding this occurrence. Here, we studied the effect of organic matter on plant growth of some species that occur in primary successions of volcanic ash soil ecosystems, based on growth experiments and chemical analyses. We found that a large amount of inorganic phosphorus (but only a limited amount of inorganic nitrogen) is leached from fresh leaf litter of the pioneer spices Fallopia japonica at the initial stage of litter decomposition. Phosphorus from the fresh litter specifically activated

SUBMITTER: Katayama S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8169781 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature