Small molecules dominate organic phosphorus in NaOH-EDTA extracts of soils as determined by P NMR.

Understanding the composition of organic phosphorus (P) in soils is relevant to various disciplines, from agricultural sciences to ecology. Despite past efforts, the precise nature of soil organic P remains an enigma, especially that of the orthophosphate monoesters, which dominate P NMR spectra of NaOH-EDTA extracts of soils worldwide. The monoester region often exhibits an unidentified, broad background believed to represent high molecular weight (MW) P.

Climatic and edaphic controls over tropical forest diversity and vegetation carbon storage.

Tropical rainforests harbor exceptionally high biodiversity and store large amounts of carbon in vegetation biomass. However, regional variation in plant species richness and vegetation carbon stock can be substantial, and may be related to the heterogeneity of topoedaphic properties. Therefore, aboveground vegetation carbon storage typically differs between geographic forest regions in association with the locally dominant plant functional group.

Bioavailable soil phosphorus decreases with increasing elevation in a subarctic tundra landscape.

Phosphorus (P) is an important macronutrient in arctic and subarctic tundra and its bioavailability is regulated by the mineralization of organic P. Temperature is likely to be an important control on P bioavailability, although effects may differ across contrasting plant communities with different soil properties. We used an elevational gradient in northern Sweden that included both heath and meadow vegetation types at all elevations to study the effects of temperature, soil P sorption capacity and oxalate-extractable aluminium (Alox) and iron (Feox) on the concentration of different soil P fractions.

High-resolution characterization of organic phosphorus in soil extracts using 2D 1H-31P NMR correlation spectroscopy.

Organic phosphorus (P) compounds represent a major component of soil P in many soils and are key sources of P for microbes and plants. Solution NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy) is a powerful technique for characterizing organic P species. However, (31)P NMR spectra are often complicated by overlapping peaks, which hampers identification and quantification of the numerous P species present in soils.