Soil phosphorus crisis in the Tibetan alpine permafrost region

Jiangtao Hong, Bo Pang, Lirong Zhao, Shumiao Shu, Puyu Feng, Fang Liu, Ziyin Du and Xiaodan Wang ()
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Jiangtao Hong: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Bo Pang: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Lirong Zhao: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Shumiao Shu: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Puyu Feng: China Agricultural University
Fang Liu: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Ziyin Du: China West Normal University
Xiaodan Wang: Chinese Academy of Sciences

Nature Communications, 2025, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-13

Abstract: Abstract Phosphorus (P) is an essential nutrient for living systems and is critical to the functioning of ecosystems. Permafrost areas have a huge reservoir of soil P that is currently not used very much; however, the direction and magnitude of changes in soil P stocks across the Tibetan alpine permafrost regions over recent decades remain unclear and the P budget has not been well assessed. Here we use a unique combination of a soil resampling method and a modified process-balanced model to assess the historical dynamics of soil P pools (0–30 cm depth) and the key flows of P in ecosystems across Tibetan alpine permafrost region. Compared with the 1980s, the soil P stock decreases dramatically by 36.1% in the 2020 s, decreasing from 346.5 to 221.4 Tg P (1 Tg = 1012 g) during the last three decades. Water erosion accounts for 82.3% of the total soil P outflow. Our projections suggest that the soil P stock will only be 20.3% of the 1980s stock by the end of this century, leading to an unprecedented crisis of P limitation in permafrost regions.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-61501-x

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