Oxygen isotopes unravel the role of microorganisms in phosphate cycling in soils

Phosphorus (P) is considered the ultimate limiting nutrient for plants in most natural systems and changes in the distribution of inorganic and organic P forms during soil development have been well documented. In particular, microbial activity has been shown to be an important control on P cycling but its contribution in building up the pool of plant-available P during soil development is still poorly quantified. To determine the importance of different biological processes on P cycling, we analyzed the isotopic composition of oxygen in phosphate (δ(18)O-Pi) from the parent material, soil microorganisms, the available P pool, and from the vegetation along a 150-year soil chronosequence of a glacier forefield. Our results show that at all sites, δ(18)O-Pi of microbial Pi is within the range expected for the temperature-dependent equilibrium between phosphate and water. In addition, the isotopic signature of available Pi is close to the signature of microbial Pi, independently of the contribution of parent material Pi, vegetation Pi or Pi released from organic matter mineralization. Thus, we show that phosphate is cycled through soil microorganisms before being released to the available pool. This isotopic approach demonstrates for the first time in the field and over long time scales, and not only through controlled experiments, the role of the microbial activity in cycling of P in soils.