Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T08:20:31.752Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Landscape-scale soil phosphorus variability in the McMurdo Dry Valleys

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 February 2017

Ruth C. Heindel Open the ORCID record for Ruth C. Heindel [Opens in a new window] ,
Angela M. Spickard  and
Ross A. Virginia
Ruth C. Heindel*
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, Dartmouth College, HB 6105 Fairchild Hall, Hanover, NH 03755, USA
Angela M. Spickard
Affiliation:
Environmental Studies Program, Dartmouth College, HB 6182 Steele Hall, Hanover, NH 03755, USA
Ross A. Virginia
Affiliation:
Environmental Studies Program, Dartmouth College, HB 6182 Steele Hall, Hanover, NH 03755, USA Institute of Arctic Studies, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755, USA
*
ruth.c.heindel.gr@dartmouth.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The predicted increase in liquid water availability in the McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDV), Antarctica, may have profound consequences for nutrient cycling in soil and aquatic ecosystems. Our ability to predict future changes relies on our understanding of current nutrient cycling processes. Multiple hypotheses exist to explain the variability in soil phosphorus content and availability found throughout the MDV region. We analysed 146 surface soil samples from the MDV to determine the relative importance of parent material, landscape age, soil chemistry and texture, and topography on two biologically relevant phosphorus pools, HCl- and NaHCO3-extractable phosphorus. While HCl-extractable phosphorus is highly predicted by parent material, NaHCO3-extractable phosphorus is unrelated to parent material but is significantly correlated with soil conductivity, soil texture and topography. Neither measure of soil phosphorus was related to landscape age across a gradient of ~20 000 to 1 500 000 years. Glacial history has played an important role in the availability of soil phosphorus by shaping patterns of soil texture and parent material. With a predicted increase in water availability, the rate of mineral weathering may increase, releasing more HCl-extractable phosphorus into soil and aquatic ecosystems.

Keywords

Antarcticamineral weatheringnutrient cyclingparent materialTaylor Valley
Type
Earth Sciences
Information
Antarctic Science , Volume 29 , Issue 3 , June 2017 , pp. 252 - 263
Check for updates
Copyright
© Antarctic Science Ltd 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Barrett, J.E., Virginia, R.A., Wall, D.H., Parsons, A.N., Powers, L.E. & Burkins, M.B. 2004. Variation in biogeochemistry and soil biodiversity across spatial scales in a polar desert ecosystem. Ecology, 85, 3105–3118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barrett, J.E., Virginia, R.A., Lyons, W.B., McKnight, D.M., Priscu, J.C., Doran, P.T., Fountain, A.G., Wall, D.H. & Moorhead, D.L. 2007. Biogeochemical stoichiometry of Antarctic Dry Valley ecosystems. Journal of Geophysical Research - Biogeosciences, 112, 10.1029/2005JG000141.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bate, D.B., Barrett, J.E., Poage, M.A. & Virginia, R.A. 2008. Soil phosphorus cycling in an Antarctic polar desert. Geoderma, 144, 21–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blecker, S.W., Ippolito, J.A., Barrett, J.E., Wall, D.H., Virginia, R.A. & Norvell, K.L. 2006. Phosphorus fractions in soils of Taylor Valley, Antarctica. Soil Science Society of America Journal, 70, 806–815.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bockheim, J.G., Campbell, I.B. & McLeod, M. 2007. Permafrost distribution and active-layer depths in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica. Permafrost and Periglacial Processes, 18, 217–227.Google Scholar
Burkins, M.B., Virginia, R.A. & Wall, D.H. 2001. Organic carbon cycling in Taylor Valley, Antarctica: quantifying soil reservoirs and soil respiration. Global Change Biology, 7, 113–125.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cary, S.C., McDonald, I.R., Barrett, J.E. & Cowan, D.A. 2010. On the rocks: the microbiology of Antarctic Dry Valley soils. Nature Reviews Microbiology, 8, 129–138.Google Scholar
Claridge, G.G.C. & Campbell, I.B. 1977. Salts in Antarctic soils, their distribution and relationship to soil processes. Soil Science, 123, 377–384.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coventry, J.L., Halliwell, D.J. & Nash, D.M. 2001. The orthophosphate content of bicarbonate soil extracts. Australian Journal of Soil Research, 39, 415–421.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Doran, P.T., McKay, C.P., Clow, G.D., Dana, G.L., Fountain, A.G., Nylen, T. & Lyons, W.B. 2002. Valley floor climate observations from the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica, 1986–2000. Journal of Geophysical Research - Atmospheres, 107, 10.1029/2001JD002045.Google Scholar
Fountain, A.G., Nylen, T.H., Monaghan, A., Basagic, H.J. & Bromwich, D. 2010. Snow in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica. International Journal of Climatology, 30, 633–642.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Freckman, D.W. & Virginia, R.A. 1997. Low-diversity Antarctic soil nematode communities: distribution and response to disturbance. Ecology, 78, 363–369.Google Scholar
Gee, G.W. & Bauder, J.W. 1979. Particle-size analysis by hydrometer – simplified method for routine textural analysis and a sensitivity test of measurement parameters. Soil Science Society of America Journal, 43, 1004–1007.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gooseff, M.N., Barrett, J.E. & Levy, J.S. 2013. Shallow groundwater systems in a polar desert, McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica. Hydrogeology Journal, 21, 171–183.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gooseff, M.N., McKnight, D.M., Lyons, W.B. & Blum, A.E. 2002. Weathering reactions and hyporheic exchange controls on stream water chemistry in a glacial meltwater stream in the McMurdo Dry Valleys. Water Resources Research, 38, 10.1029/2001WR000834.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gooseff, M.N., Wlostowski, A., McKnight, D.M. & Jaros, C. 2017. Hydrologic connectivity and implications for ecosystem processes – lessons from naked watersheds. Geomorphology, 227, 63–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gudding, J.A. 2003. Phosphorus in Taylor Valley, Antarctica: the connection between landscape age and nutrient limitation in aquatic ecosystem components. Msc thesis, Ohio State University, 129 pp. [Unpublished].Google Scholar
Hall, B.L., Denton, G.H. & Hendy, C.H. 2000. Evidence from Taylor Valley for a grounded ice sheet in the Ross Sea, Antarctica. Geografiska Annaler - Physical Geography, 82A, 275–303.Google Scholar
Hendy, C.H., Sadler, A.J., Denton, G.H. & Hall, B.L. 2000. Proglacial lake-ice conveyors: a new mechanism for deposition of drift in polar environments. Geografiska Annaler - Physical Geography, 82A, 10.1111/j.0435-3676.2000.00124.x.Google Scholar
Higgins, S.M., Hendy, C.H. & Denton, G.H. 2000. Geochronology of Bonney drift, Taylor Valley, Antarctica: evidence for interglacial expansions of Taylor Glacier. Geografiska Annaler - Physical Geography, 82A, 391–409.Google Scholar
Lancaster, N. 2002. Flux of eolian sediment in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica: a preliminary assessment. Arctic Antarctic and Alpine Research, 34, 318–323.Google Scholar
Levy, J. 2013. How big are the McMurdo Dry Valleys? Estimating ice-free area using Landsat image data. Antarctic Science, 25, 119–120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levy, J.S., Rittenour, T.M., Fountain, A.G. & O’Conner, J.E. In press. Luminescence dating of paleolake deltas and glacial deposits in Garwood Valley, Antarctica: implications for lake duration and ice sheet reconstruction. Geological Society of America Bulletin.Google Scholar
Levy, J.S., Fountain, A.G., Gooseff, M.N., Welch, K.A. & Lyons, W.B. 2011. Water tracks and permafrost in Taylor Valley, Antarctica: extensive and shallow groundwater connectivity in a cold desert ecosystem. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 123, 2295–2311.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levy, J.S., Fountain, A.G., O’Connor, J.E., Welch, K.A. & Lyons, W.B. 2013. Garwood Valley, Antarctica: a new record of Last Glacial Maximum to Holocene glaciofluvial processes in the McMurdo Dry Valleys. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 125, 1484–1502.Google Scholar
Liao, N. & Marten, S. 1999. QuikChem method 10-115-01-1-F: determination of total phosphorus by flow injection analysis colorimetry (acid persulfate digestion method). Milwaukee, WI: Zellweger Analytics, Lachat Instruments Division.Google Scholar
Mage, S.M. & Porder, S. 2013. Parent material and topography determine soil phosphorus status in the Luquillo Mountains of Puerto Rico. Ecosystems, 16, 284–294.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marchant, D. & Denton, G. 1996. Miocene and Pliocene paleoclimate of the Dry Valleys region, southern Victoria land: a geomorphological approach. Marine Micropaleontology, 27, 253–271.Google Scholar
Olsen, S.R. 1954. Estimation of available phosphorus in soils by extraction with sodium bicarbonate. Washington, DC: United States Department of Agriculture.Google Scholar
Pansu, M. & Gautheyrou, J. 2006. Handbook of soil analysis: mineralogical, organic and inorganic methods. Berlin Heidelberg: Springer, 993 pp.Google Scholar
Porder, S. & Ramachandran, S. 2013. The phosphorus concentration of common rocks – a potential driver of ecosystem P status. Plant and Soil, 367, 41–55.Google Scholar
Priscu, J.C. 1995. Phytoplankton nutrient deficiency in lakes of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica. Freshwater Biology, 34, 215–227.Google Scholar
Sabacká, M., Priscu, J.C., Basagic, H.J., Fountain, A.G., Wall, D.H., Virginia, R.A. & Greenwood, M.C. 2012. Aeolian flux of biotic and abiotic material in Taylor Valley, Antarctica. Geomorphology, 155, 102–111.Google Scholar
Selmants, P.C. & Hart, S.C. 2010. Phosphorus and soil development: does the Walker and Syers model apply to semiarid ecosystems? Ecology, 91, 474–484.Google Scholar
Smith, T.E., Wall, D.H., Hogg, I.D., Adams, B.J., Nielsen, U.N. & Virginia, R.A. 2012. Thawing permafrost alters nematode populations and soil habitat characteristics in an Antarctic polar desert ecosystem. Pedobiologia, 55, 75–81.Google Scholar
Steig, E.J., Schneider, D.P., Rutherford, S.D., Mann, M.E., Comiso, J.C. & Shindell, D.T. 2009. Warming of the Antarctic ice-sheet surface since the 1957 International Geophysical Year. Nature, 457, 459–462.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Toner, J.D., Sletten, R.S. & Prentice, M.L. 2013. Soluble salt accumulations in Taylor Valley, Antarctica: implications for paleolakes and Ross Sea Ice Sheet dynamics. Journal of Geophysical Research - Earth Surface, 118, 198–215.Google Scholar
Walker, T.W. & Syers, J.K. 1976. Fate of phosphorus during pedogenesis. Geoderma, 15, 1–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilch, T.I., Lux, D.R., Denton, G.H. & McIntosh, W.C. 1993. Minimal Pliocene-Pleistocene uplift of the Dry Valleys sector of the Transantarctic Mountains – a key parameter in ice-sheet reconstructions. Geology, 21, 841–844.Google Scholar
Xu, G., Sun, J.N., Xu, R.F., Lv, Y.C., Shao, H.B., Yan, K., Zhang, L.H. & Blackwell, M.S.A. 2011. Effects of air-drying and freezing on phosphorus fractions in soils with different organic matter contents. Plant Soil and Environment, 57, 228–234.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

Heindel supplementary material

Table S1

Download Heindel supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 84.5 KB