POWRE: Forging International Collaborations to Investigate Mechanisms of Accelerated Phosphorus Cycling in Native Amazonian Agroecosystems

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McGrath 9973472 Phosphorus availability limits plant productivity throughout the tropics, including in most soils of South America's Amazon Basin. There are some plants, such as the economically-important peach palm (Bactris gasipaes), that remain relatively productive in diagnostically P-poor soils, although the means bywhich these plants may increase P-availabilty are little understood. It has been suggested that such plants could be used to increase P-availability to other plants grown in the same system. This project will identify and measure "less available" forms of P potentially used by some native Amazonian species, such as peach palm, growing in P-poor soils. The study will also determine if peach palm, and other Amazonian trees, are adapted to utilize otherwise "unavailable" forms of soil P, by examining changes in soil chemistry around the roots of these plants. The significance of using plants adapted to utilize less available forms of P to increase P availability to associated crop plants growing in P-deficient habitats will also be explored in field studies in the Brazilian Amazon. The information gained from these studies will further our understanding of how some plants are able to accelerate P cycling in seemingly P-deficient conditions, and how they can be used to manage land more sustainably, since rapid soil depletion is a major factor contributing to deforestation and land clearing in the tropics. Conducting such research in collaboration with other institutions will help ensure that the results are applicable to a wider range of environments.