Fresh litter acts as a substantial phosphorus source of plant species appearing in primary succession on volcanic ash soil

Plants have difficulty absorbing phosphorus from volcanic ash soils owing to the adsorption of phosphorus by aluminum and iron in the soils. Thus, on volcanic ash soils, the phosphorus source for natural vegetation is expected to be organic matter, however, there is a lack of experimental evidence regarding this occurrence. Here, we studied the effect of organic matter on plant growth of some species that occur in primary successions of volcanic ash soil ecosystems, based on growth experiments and chemical analyses. We found that a large amount of inorganic phosphorus (but only a limited amount of inorganic nitrogen) is leached from fresh leaf litter of the pioneer spices Fallopia japonica at the initial stage of litter decomposition. Phosphorus from the fresh litter specifically activated the growth of subsequently invading nitrogen-fixing alder when immature volcanic soil was used for cultivation. In contrast, old organic matter in mature soil was merely a minor source of phosphorus. These results suggest that fresh litter of F. japonica is essential for growth of nitrogen-fixing alder because the litter supplies phosphorus. We consider that rapid phosphorus cycles in fresh litter-plant systems underlie the productivity of natural vegetation even in mature ecosystems established on volcanic ash soils.