Amazon's growth limited by lack of phosphorus



According to new research, the Amazon rainforest's ability to grow amid our atmosphere's rising carbon content may be constrained by phosphate deficiency in the soil.

Because plants develop more quickly in environments with higher carbon dioxide (CO2) levels, they store more carbon.

This storage, particularly in vast forests like the Amazon, aids in containing growing CO2 levels and reducing climate change.

However, plants also require nutrients to develop, and a recent study indicates that the availability of phosphorus in particular may limit the Amazon's potential to boost productivity (growth rate) as CO2 levels rise.

The researchers caution that this might also reduce the rainforest's ability to withstand climate change.

An international team led by the University of Exeter and Brazil's National Institute of Amazonian Research (INPA) conducted the study, which was published in the journal Nature.

Lead author Hellen Fernanda Viana Cunha from INPA stated that "our results question the potential for current high rates of carbon uptake in Amazonia to be maintained."

"About 60% of the Amazon basin is covered by old, low-phosphorus soils, but it was unknown how phosphorus affected production because the majority of fertilization studies conducted elsewhere in the globe took place in more phosphorus-rich systems.

"Our study, the Amazon Fertilization Experiment (AFEX), looked at what would happen if phosphorus, nitrogen, and base cations—along with other potentially important nutrients—were added to a low-phosphorus, old-growth rainforest area.

"Over the first two years of the trial, productivity was only boosted by phosphorus.

The fact that the system responded to phosphorus so quickly and strongly both above and below ground is proof that there was a significant phosphorus constraint throughout the entire system.

In tropical areas like the Amazon, the soil normally created millions of years ago, and with time, some nutrients can be lost.

While certain plants and soil microbes can take up nutrients like nitrogen from the air, phosphorus is not a gas that is present in the environment, thus if levels are depleted there is little chance that they will increase.

In the current experiment, two years of added phosphorus resulted in considerable increases in canopy productivity (19%) and fine root growth (29%)

No more stem growth was observed. Cunha suggested that this might be the case since stem growth is a slower process and stems require less phosphorus than roots and leaves do.

If a stem wood productivity response materializes, it will require extensive monitoring of the trial.

The findings have significant ramifications for both carbon storage and the forest's ability to withstand climate change.

Professor Iain Hartley of the University of Exeter's Geography department stated that "we need the forest to be growing better than it used to be in order to cope with and recover from increased risks such as droughts."

"Our results indicate that phosphorus availability will reduce the effect of CO2 fertilization, which could boost the resilience of the forest, making the hazards associated with climate change more significant.

Short version: Areas of the rainforest developing in soils with low fertility may be more vulnerable than currently thought.

It is vital for study to test this hypothesis. This top priority is being addressed by the AmazonFACE experiment, whose multinational team includes researchers from Exeter and INPA.

Direct evidence for phosphorus constraint on Amazon forest production is the title of the study.

University of Exeter

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