Microbial biomass acts as a source of plant nutrients in dry tropical forest and savanna

Singh, J. S. ; Raghubanshi, A. S. ; Singh, R. S. ; Srivastava, S. C. (1989) Microbial biomass acts as a source of plant nutrients in dry tropical forest and savanna Nature, 338 . pp. 499-500. ISSN 0028-0836

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Official URL: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v338/n6215/ab...

Related URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/338499a0

Abstract

More than half of all tropical soils are highly weathered, leached and impoverished, requiring the ecosystem to develop nutrient-conserving mechanisms. Nutrient retention and withdrawal mechanisms are most effective in nutrient-poor systems. Thus, although dry tropical forests and savanna have the potential capacity to grow at high rates this capacity is strictly limited by climate and nutrients. Our studies on these nutrient-poor ecosystems show that a reciprocal relationship exists between microbial biomass and plant growth rate. This suggests that microbial immobilization may be a main source of nutrients for the plants and may lead to nutrient conservation.

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Deposited On:03 Dec 2011 04:37
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