Short-term microbial responses to soluble inorganic P input in a tropical lowland rain forest in Amazonia

In non-flooded lowland rain forests with low soil phosphorus(P)in parts of Amazonia,P cycling largely occurs via leaf litter recycling by arbuscular mycorrhizal(AM)fungal symbionts.Occasional high input of P into these ecosystems occurs during drought years with increased litterfall.As the length and frequency of drought events are projected to increase in the region,a single-dose nutrient addition experiment was carried out to test how this would impact P cycling.An application rate of 4 kg P ha^(-1) was used,which corresponds to twice the amount of litter-derived P in an average year.It was hypothesized that i)the added mineral P would be immobilized by soil microorganisms,leading to measurable increase in soil microbial biomass carbon(C)and P and ii)AM colonization rate would be reduced by the pulse in mineral P available for plant uptake.The results did not support either of our hypotheses.The addition of P did not have an effect on AM root colonization,nor was P immobilized by soil microbiota during the experimental period.The lack of a difference between the control and treatment at our study site could be attributed to the relatively low one-off dose of P applied that did not change either the colonization rate of roots by AM fungi or the amount of soil available labile P.To obtain a mechanistic understanding of the availability,capture,and use of P by plant-symbiont associations in tropical rain forest ecosystems,further integrated studies of the soil-plant system combining long-term nutrient manipulations,modeling,and experimental approaches are required.