Rapid responses of root traits and productivity to phosphorus and cation additions in a tropical lowland forest in Amazonia

• Soil nutrient availability can strongly affect root traits. In tropical forests, phosphorus (P) is often considered the main limiting nutrient for plants. However, support for the P paradigm is limited, and N and cations might also control tropical forests functioning. • We used a large‐scale experiment to determine how the factorial addition of nitrogen (N), P and cations affected root productivity and traits related to nutrient acquisition strategies (morphological traits, phosphatase activity, arbuscular mycorrhizal colonisation and nutrient contents) in a primary rainforest growing on low‐fertility soils in Central Amazonia after one year of fertilisation. • Multiple root traits and productivity were affected. Phosphorus additions increased annual root productivity and root diameter, but decreased root phosphatase activity. Cation additions increased root productivity at certain times of year, also increasing root diameter and mycorrhizal colonisation. P and cation additions increased their element concentrations in root tissues. No responses were detected with N addition. • Here we show that rock‐derived nutrients determine root functioning in low‐fertility Amazonian soils, demonstrating not only the hypothesised importance of P, but also highlighting the role of cations. The changes in fine root traits and productivity indicate that even slow‐growing tropical rainforests can respond rapidly to changes in resource availability

Seasonal fluctuations of extracellular enzyme activities are related to the biogeochemical cycling of C, N and P in a tropical terra-firme forest

Extracellular enzymes (EE) play a vital role in soil nutrient cycling and thus affect terrestrial ecosystem functioning. Yet the drivers that regulate microbial activity, and therefore EE activity, remain under debate. In this study we investigate the temporal variation of soil EE in a tropical terra-firme forest. We found that EE activity peaked during the drier season in association with increased leaf litterfall, which was also reflected in negative relationships between EE activities and precipitation. Soil nutrients were weakly related to EE activities, although extractable N was related to EE activities in the top 5 cm of the soil. These results suggest that soil EE activity is synchronized with precipitation-driven substrate inputs and depends on the availability of N. Our results further indicate high investments in P acquisition, with a higher microbial N demand in the month before the onset of the drier season, shifting to higher P demand towards the end of the drier season. These seasonal fluctuations in the potential acquisition of essential resources imply dynamic shifts in microbial activity in coordination with climate seasonality and resource limitation of central-eastern Amazon forests

Amazon forest response to CO2 fertilization dependent on plant phosphorus acquisition

Global terrestrial models currently predict that the Amazon rainforest will continue to act as a carbon sink in the future, primarily owing to the rising atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration. Soil phosphorus impoverishment in parts of the Amazon basin largely controls its functioning, but the role of phosphorus availability has not been considered in global model ensembles—for example, during the Fifth Climate Model Intercomparison Project. Here we simulate the planned free-air CO2 enrichment experiment AmazonFACE with an ensemble of 14 terrestrial ecosystem models. We show that phosphorus availability reduces the projected CO2-induced biomass carbon growth by about 50% to 79 ± 63 g C m−2 yr−1 over 15 years compared to estimates from carbon and carbon–nitrogen models. Our results suggest that the resilience of the region to climate change may be much less than previously assumed. Variation in the biomass carbon response among the phosphorus-enabled models is considerable, ranging from 5 to 140 g C m−2 yr−1, owing to the contrasting plant phosphorus use and acquisition strategies considered among the models. The Amazon forest response thus depends on the interactions and relative contributions of the phosphorus acquisition and use strategies across individuals, and to what extent these processes can be upregulated under elevated CO2. © 2019, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited