Journal article
Phosphorus nutrition of phosphorus-sensitive Australian native plants: threats to plant communities in a global biodiversity hotspot
Conservation Physiology, Vol.1(1)
2013
Abstract
South-western Australia harbours a global biodiversity hotspot on the world's most phosphorus (P)-impoverished soils. The greatest biodiversity occurs on the most severely nutrient-impoverished soils, where non-mycorrhizal species are a prominent component of the flora. Mycorrhizal species dominate where soils contain slightly more phosphorus. In addition to habitat loss and dryland salinity, a major threat to plant biodiversity in this region is eutrophication due to enrichment with P. Many plant species in the south-western Australian biodiversity hotspot are extremely sensitive to P, due to a low capability to down-regulate their phosphate-uptake capacity. Species from the most P-impoverished soils are also very poor competitors at higher P availability, giving way to more competitive species when soil P concentrations are increased. Sources of increased soil P concentrations include increased fire frequency, run-off from agricultural land, and urban activities. Another P source is the P-fertilizing effect of spraying natural environments on a landscape scale with phosphite to reduce the impacts of the introduced plant pathogen Phytophthora cinnamomi, which itself is a serious threat to biodiversity. We argue that alternatives to phosphite for P. cinnamomi management are needed urgently, and propose a strategy to work towards such alternatives, based on a sound understanding of the physiological and molecular mechanisms of the action of phosphite in plants that are susceptible to P. cinnamomi. The threats we describe for the south-western Australian biodiversity hotspot are likely to be very similar for other P-impoverished environments, including the fynbos in South Africa and the cerrado in Brazil.
Details
- Title
- Phosphorus nutrition of phosphorus-sensitive Australian native plants: threats to plant communities in a global biodiversity hotspot
- Authors/Creators
- H. Lambers (Author/Creator) - The University of Western AustraliaI. Ahmedi (Author/Creator) - The University of Western AustraliaO. Berkowitz (Author/Creator) - The University of Western AustraliaC. Dunne (Author/Creator) - The University of Western AustraliaP.M. Finnegan (Author/Creator) - The University of Western AustraliaG.E.St.J. Hardy (Author/Creator) - Murdoch UniversityR. Jost (Author/Creator) - The University of Western AustraliaE. Laliberté (Author/Creator) - The University of Western AustraliaS.J. Pearse (Author/Creator) - The University of Western AustraliaF.P. Teste (Author/Creator) - The University of Western Australia
- Publication Details
- Conservation Physiology, Vol.1(1)
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press
- Identifiers
- 991005541704007891
- Copyright
- © The Author 2013
- Murdoch Affiliation
- Centre for Phytophthora Science and Management; School of Veterinary and Life Sciences
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Note
- This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/), which permits unrestricted distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- Citation topics
- 3 Agriculture, Environment & Ecology
- 3.45 Soil Science
- 3.45.473 Soil Phosphorus Dynamics
- Web Of Science research areas
- Biodiversity Conservation
- Ecology
- Environmental Sciences
- Physiology
- ESI research areas
- Environment/Ecology