Evaluation of the effect of species diversity upon soil moisture as a promoter of acid phosphatase activity in Cerrado herbaceous communities

• Grant number: 16/22468-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: February 01, 2017
• End date: December 31, 2018
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Ecology - Ecosystems Ecology
• Principal Investigator: Lucíola Santos Lannes
• Grantee: Amanda Ribeiro Petroni
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Engenharia (FEIS). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Ilha Solteira. Ilha Solteira , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Cerrado soils are known to be poor in mineral nutrients. However, plants that evolved in this realm tend to have strategies to deal with other forms of nutrients in the soil. As Cerrado soils are rich in organic phosphorus, it is expected that plants that live in this biome have a high phosphatase activity to get phosphate from the organic fractions. A previous study showed that this occurs, especially in more biodiverse communities. This happens since the root structures that produce phosphatase are better developed in plants growing in more diverse communities, but the reason for this phenomenon is yet unknown. It is known that an increase in biodiversity promotes higher evapotranspiration rates, since that has a direct relationship with biomass. Other studies, however, show that biodiversity increase can cause lower evapotranspiration rates, suggesting that the topic deserves to be better investigated. The aim of this study is to check how biodiversity affect evapotranspiration rates and how these affect acid phosphatase activity. This study will be performed in a glasshouse containing pots with various combinations of herbaceous species that are common in the Cerrado. Temperature increase due to global warming might change hydrological patterns, making the Cerrado drier, which justifies the importance of the study on how water availability as a possible stimulator of acid phosphatase activity and the following increase in phosphorus availability to plants that live in the Cerrado, which is known to be limited by the availability of mineral phosphorus. (AU)