Soil microbial nutrient constraints along a tropical forest elevation gradient: a belowground test of a biogeochemical paradigm

Nottingham, A. T.; Turner, B. L.; Whitaker, J.; Ostle, N. J.; McNamara, N. P.; Bardgett, R. D.; Salinas, N.; Meir, P.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-6071-2015

Articles | Volume 12, issue 20

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-6071-2015

© Author(s) 2015. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-6071-2015

© Author(s) 2015. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Articles | Volume 12, issue 20

Research article

|

26 Oct 2015

Research article |

| 26 Oct 2015

Soil microbial nutrient constraints along a tropical forest elevation gradient: a belowground test of a biogeochemical paradigm

A. T. Nottingham, B. L. Turner, J. Whitaker, N. J. Ostle, N. P. McNamara, R. D. Bardgett, N. Salinas, and P. Meir

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Interactive discussion

Status: closed

AC: Author comment | RC: Referee comment | SC: Short comment | EC: Editor comment

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RC C2135: 'clear study', Anonymous Referee #1, 13 May 2015
- AC C4010: 'Response to referee 1 comments', Andrew Nottingham, 31 Jul 2015
RC C2547: 'Strength & weakness of this correlative study', Anonymous Referee #2, 02 Jun 2015
- AC C4019: 'Response to referee 2 comments', Andrew Nottingham, 31 Jul 2015

Peer-review completion

AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision

ED: Publish subject to minor revisions (Editor review) (04 Aug 2015) by Sönke Zaehle

AR by Andrew Nottingham on behalf of the Authors (19 Aug 2015) Author's response Manuscript

ED: Publish as is (19 Aug 2015) by Sönke Zaehle

AR by Andrew Nottingham on behalf of the Authors (27 Aug 2015) Manuscript

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Short summary

We measured indices of soil microbial nutrient status in lowland, sub-montane and montane tropical forests along a natural gradient spanning 3400 m in elevation in the Peruvian Andes. We show that soil microorganisms shift investment in nutrient acquisition from P to N between lowland and montane tropical forests, suggesting that different nutrients regulate soil microbial metabolism and the soil carbon balance in these ecosystems.