Introduction to the special issue: Developments in soil organic phosphorus cycling in natural and agricultural ecosystems

Abstract

Phosphorus is essential for life, but its availability often limits productivity in both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems (Elser et al., 2007). From tropical rain forests to the open oceans, organisms depend on organic phosphorus turnover for their phosphorus nutrition and have evolved complex adaptations that allow them to compete efficiently for this scarce resource (e.g. Lambers et al., 2006; Whitton et al., 2005). Yet organic phosphorus continues to be largely overlooked in biogeochemical, agricultural, and ecological research, and remains poorly understood in comparison to inorganic phosphorus. This limits our understanding of phosphorus cycling in ecosystems, inhibits the development of sustainable agricultural practices, and constrains our ability to predict the response of the earth's major biomes to global change.

This special issue is a product of these two meetings and brings together fifteen papers on the common theme of soil organic phosphorus cycling. The papers cover a variety of subject areas, including soil ecology, agriculture, microbial ecology, and ecosystem development, and involve a variety of analytical techniques, such as nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, enzyme hydrolysis, microbial sequencing, and stable and radioactive isotopes. Together, they provide a cross-disciplinary insight into recent developments in organic phosphorus cycling in agriculture and the environment.