Phosphorus biogeochemical cycle research in mountainous ecosystems

Phosphorus (P), as a limiting nutrient, plays a crucial role in the mountainous ecosystem development. Its biogeochemical cycle in mountainous ecosystems determines the bioavailability and sustainable supply of P, and thus becomes a crucial process which needs to be fully understood and described fo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Mountain Science
Main Authors: Wu Yan-hong, Zhou Jun, Yu Dong, Sun Shou-qin, Luo Ji, Bing Hai-jian, Sun Hong-yang
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: 2013
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-013-2386-1
Description
Summary:Phosphorus (P), as a limiting nutrient, plays a crucial role in the mountainous ecosystem development. Its biogeochemical cycle in mountainous ecosystems determines the bioavailability and sustainable supply of P, and thus becomes a crucial process which needs to be fully understood and described for ecological and environmental conservation. However, most of research about P biogeochemical processes has been carried out in aquatic environment and agronomic field, but rare researches have been done in mountain ecosystem. In the present review, we summarize researches on P biogeochemical cycle concerning mountain ecosystem in recent decades, including rock weathering, the release, transformation and bioavailability of P, interactions between the P biological cycle and microbial and plant life, as well as the development of models. Based on the state of art, we propose the future work on this direction, including the integration of all these research, the development of a practical model to understand the P biogeochemical cycle and its bioavailability, and to provide a reference for ecological and environmental conservation of mountainous ecosystems and lowland aquatic systems.