Institute of Hydrobiology, Biology Centre CAS, Na Sádkách 7, 37005, České Budějovice, Czech Republic.
Department of Ecosystem Biology, Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, Branišovská 1645/31a, 370 05, České Budějovice, Czech Republic.
Sci Rep. 2023 Sep 7;13(1):14725. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-42013-4.
Scree deposits in alpine catchments contain undeveloped till soils that are "hidden" between and under stones. These scree areas have no vegetation except for sparse lichen patches on stone surfaces, but the soils exhibit biological activity and active cycling of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and organic carbon (C). We compared the chemical and biochemical properties of till soils in the scree areas (scree soils) with developed soils in alpine meadows (meadow soils) of 14 catchments in the alpine zone of the Tatra Mountains. The data showed that scree soils served as an important source of mobile P forms for waters in high elevation catchments. We then conducted a detailed soil survey focused on four selected alpine catchments with scree cover proportions > 30%. This study confirmed that scree soils have significantly higher concentrations of mobile P forms compared to meadow soils, and a high specific microbial activity directed towards the extraction of P with rapid turnover in the microbial biomass. The combination of these properties and the amounts of scree soils in high-elevation areas highlight their importance in overall biogeochemical P cycling in alpine catchments, and the terrestrial P export to receiving waters.
高山集水区的碎屑沉积物中含有尚未发育的底土，这些底土“隐藏”在石头之间和下面。这些碎屑区除了石头表面稀疏的地衣斑块外没有植被，但土壤表现出生物活性和氮（N）、磷（P）和有机碳（C）的有效循环。我们比较了塔特拉山脉高山带 14 个集水区的碎屑区（碎屑土）和高山草地（草地土）发育土壤的化学和生化特性。数据表明，碎屑土是高海拔集水区水中可移动 P 形态的重要来源。然后，我们对四个选定的具有 30%以上碎屑覆盖比例的高山集水区进行了详细的土壤调查。本研究证实，与草地土相比，碎屑土中可移动 P 形态的浓度显著更高，并且具有高特异性微生物活性，可快速提取微生物生物量中的 P 并进行周转。这些特性的结合以及高山地区碎屑土的数量突出了它们在高山集水区中整体生物地球化学 P 循环以及向受纳水体输送陆地 P 的重要性。
