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Removing Phosphorus from Ecosystems Through Nitrogen Fertilization and Cutting with Removal of Biomass

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Abstract

High amounts of phosphorus (P) are in soil of former farmland due to previous fertilizer additions. Draining these residues would provide conditions for grassland plant species diversity restoration amongst other ecosystem benefits. Nitrogen (N) fertilization followed by cutting with subsequent removal of biomass has been suggested as a P residue removal method. We present a general model of N and P ecosystem cycling with nutrients coupled in plant biomass. We incorporate major P pools and biological and physico-chemical fluxes around the system together with transfers into and out of the system given several decades of management. We investigate conditions where N addition and cutting accelerate fertilizer P draining. Cutting does not generally accelerate soil P depletion under short-term management because the benefits of biomass removal through decreased P mineralization occur on too long a timescale compared to cutting’s impact on the ability of plants to deplete nutrients. Short-term N fertilization lowers soil fertilizer P residues, provided plant growth remains N limited. In such situations, N fertilization without biomass removal increases soil organic P. Some scenarios show significant reductions in available P following N addition, but many situations record only marginal decreases in problematic soil P pools compared to the unfertilized state. We provide explicit conditions open to experimental testing. Cutting might have minimal adverse impacts, but will take time to be successful. N fertilization either alone or in combination with cutting is more likely to bring about desired reductions in P availability thus allowing grassland restoration, but might have undesired ecosystem consequences.

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Acknowledgements

MPP was funded by a BBSRC (UK) grant awarded to CdeM and GE, and by an NSERC (Canada) Discovery Grant to CdeM. Our thanks are due to Richard Bardgett, Klaus Butterbach-Bahl, Paul Leadley, Alan Townsend and four anonymous reviewers for comments on earlier versions of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Biology, Imperial College London, Silwood Park, SL5 7PY, UK

    Michael P. Perring

  2. Agriculture and Life Sciences Division, Field Services Centre, Lincoln University, PO Box 84, Lincoln, 7647, New Zealand

    Grant Edwards

  3. Redpath Museum, McGill University, 859 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, Quebec, H3A 2K6, Canada

    Claire de Mazancourt

  4. School of Plant Science, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 55, Hobart, Tasmania, TAS 7001, Australia

    Michael P. Perring

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  1. Michael P. Perring
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Correspondence to Michael P. Perring.

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MPP, GE, CdeM conceived and designed study, and wrote the paper; MPP and CdeM performed research, analyzed data and contributed the model.

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Perring, M.P., Edwards, G. & de Mazancourt, C. Removing Phosphorus from Ecosystems Through Nitrogen Fertilization and Cutting with Removal of Biomass. Ecosystems 12, 1130–1144 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-009-9279-8

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