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National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis

Project Description

In terrestrial systems the nitrogen cycle is more open than the phosphorus cycle. New N accumulates by biological N fixation and atmospheric deposition, and is readily lost from the system when N is in excess of biological demand. In contrast, available P is supplied from more slowly cycling soil pools already present in the system. Thus, long term rates of ecosystem N accumulation may be constrained by the rate at which available P is provided from stocks of slowly cycling P. In our ASM workshop, we found soil N to be positively correlated with both total and slowly available soil P within each of nine long-term research sites across North America, including six LTER sites. The proposed SPARC will be seeded by members of the ASM workshop and augmented with additional members. The objectives of this SPARC are to (1) produce a paper synthesizing the dependency of soil N accumulation on slowly cycling P within sites, based on the results of the ASM workshop, (2) compile a comprehensive database for soil P stocks across terrestrial LTER sites including information on the availability of related datasets on productivity and nutrient cycling, and (3) scope additional synthesis papers and potential proposals.

LTER Soil P

Principal Investigator(s)

Ruth Yanai, Craig R. See, Ellery Vaughan

Project Dates

Start: January 1, 2023

End: December 31, 2023

active

Participants

Anne Cross
Tulsa Community College
Lauren Kinsman-Costello
Kent State University
Daniel Liptzin
Soil Health Institute
Nicholas J. Lyon
University of California, Santa Barbara
Jennie R. McLaren
University of Texas, El Paso
Craig R. See
University of Minnesota
Whendee L. Silver
University of California, Berkeley
Dylan Stover
University of Texas, El Paso
Matthew Vadeboncoeur
University of New Hampshire
Ellery Vaughan
Northern Arizona University
Ruth Yanai
State University of New York (SUNY), College of Environmental Science and Forestry