Contributions of dust to phosphorus cycling in tropical forests of the Luquillo Mountains,Puerto Rico |
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Authors: | Julie C Pett-Ridge |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3PR, UK |
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Abstract: | The input of phosphorus (P) through mineral aerosol dust deposition may be an important component of nutrient dynamics in
tropical forest ecosystems. A new dust deposition calculation is used to construct a broad analysis of the importance of dust-derived
P to the P budget of a montane wet tropical forest in the Luquillo Mountains of Puerto Rico. The dust deposition calculation
used here takes advantage of an internal geochemical signal (Sr isotope mass balance) to provide a spatially integrated longer-term
average dust deposition flux. Dust inputs of P (0.23 ± 0.08 kg ha−1 year−1) are compared with watershed-average inputs of P to the soil through the conversion of underlying saprolite into soil (between
0.07 and 0.19 kg ha−1 year−1), and with watershed-average losses of soil P through leaching (between 0.02 and 0.14 kg ha−1 year−1) and erosion (between 0.04 and 1.38 kg ha−1 year−1). The similar magnitude of dust-derived P inputs to that of other fluxes indicates that dust is an important component of
the soil and biomass P budget in this ecosystem. Dust-derived inputs of P alone are capable of completely replacing the total
soil and biomass P pool on a timescale of between 2.8 ka and 7.0 ka, less than both the average soil residence time (~15 ka)
and the average landslide recurrence interval (~10 ka). |
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Keywords: | Luquillo Mountains Dust Nutrient cycling Phosphorus |
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