Effects of long-term phosphorus addition on soil ratios of phosphomonoesterase to phosphodiesterase in three tropical forests

Taiki Mori, Senhao Wang, Cong Wang, Ji Chen, Cheng Peng, Mianhai Zheng, Juan Huang, Faming Wang, Zhanfeng Liu, Jiangming Mo, Wei Zhang*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal/Conference contribution in journal/Contribution to newspaperJournal articleResearchpeer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)
5 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Soil microorganisms in tropical forests can adapt to phosphorus (P)-poor conditions by changing the activity ratios of different types of phosphatases. We tested whether microorganisms in P-poor tropical forest soils increased the phosphomonoesterase (PME) to phosphodiesterase (PDE) activity ratio, because a one-step enzymatic reaction of monoester P degradation might be more adaptive for microbial P acquisition than a two-step reaction of diester P degradation. A continuous 10-year P addition experiment was performed in three tropical forests. The activities of PME and PDE, and their ratio in soil, were determined under the hypothesis that the P-fertilized plots where P shortage is relieved would have lower PME:PDE ratios than the unfertilized controls. We demonstrated that long-term P addition in tropical forest soil did not alter the PME:PDE ratio in primary and secondary forests, whereas P fertilization elevated the PME:PDE ratio in planted forest. These results were in contrast to previous results. The long-term, large-scale P fertilization in our study may have reduced litter- and/or throughfall-derived PDE, which negated the lowered PME:PDE ratio via exogenous P inputs.

Original languageEnglish
Article numberrtac091
JournalJournal of Plant Ecology
Volume16
Issue3
Number of pages5
ISSN1752-9921
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jun 2023

Keywords

  • phosphodiesterase
  • phosphomonoestarase
  • phosphorus fertilization
  • soil extracellular enzymes
  • tropical forest

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