Soil Nutrient Distribution and Storage

Nutrient concentrations of the water column are highly variable in time as a result of changes in water depth and hydroperiod. A major portion of the nutrients are stored as organic matter because the nutrient storage in periphyton and vegetation represents only short-term nutrient sink. 

FIGURE 17.9 An experimental transect established along soil phosphorus gradient has been used by a number of investigators to study biogeochemical processes in soil and water column. 

FIGURE 17.10 Soil phosphorus concentration along the transect in WCA-2A of the Everglades (Reddy et ah, 1998). 

FIGURE 17.11 Spatial distribution of soil phosphorus during 1990 and 1998. (From DeBusk et ah, 2001.) 

FIGURE 17.12 Spatial distribution of soil phosphorus in the Everglades ecosystem. Map is based on data from 1,400 sampling stations. (Reddy, K. R., Osborne, T. Z., Newman, S., and Grunwald, S., 2007, unpublished results.) 

---