Phosphorus Accumulation in the Dehydrated Peat Soils of the Liwiec River Valley

Phosphorus Behaviour and Its Basic Indices under Organic Matter Transformation in Variable Moisture Conditions: A Case Study of Fen Organic Soils in the Odra River Valley, Poland

“…These processes are accompanied by a number of irreversible changes in physical properties, which manifest themselves as changes in morphology, soil structure, deterioration of water properties, as well as changes in chemical and physicochemical properties, associated with the release of biogens during the transformation of organic matter. These changes, known as the moorsh-forming process, lead to a gradual transformation of peat into moorsh and are referred to as secondary transformation of organic matter [5,[10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17]. These complex transformations observed after drainage of organic soils lead to irreversible deterioration of peat properties meaning it can no longer fulfil its previous role in the environment; the soils cease to be a carbon store and lose their ability to absorb and store water, hence the above processes are associated with peat degradation [11,18].…”

“…Important changes in phosphorus (P) behaviour also take place in drained organic soils [8,17,[19][20][21]. Dehydrated peat soils, which are a "boundary zone" between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, are often characterised by excessive P accumulation [17].…”

“…Important changes in phosphorus (P) behaviour also take place in drained organic soils [8,17,[19][20][21]. Dehydrated peat soils, which are a "boundary zone" between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, are often characterised by excessive P accumulation [17]. Understanding the behaviour of P in the environment is, however, problematic; this behaviour depends on complex and dynamic transformation processes in the soil environment, including mineralisation and immobilisation, dissolution and precipitation, oxidation and reduction, sorption, chelation and other processes [21][22][23][24][25][26].…”

“…Intensive mineralisation of OM and decomposition of organic molecules containing P as a component (Porg) lead to the accumulation of bioavailable and soluble forms of P [21,25,27]. The changes in the oxidation state of Al and Fe ions between anaerobic and aerobic conditions lead to the release of bound P; this process thus becomes another important source of P in soils [17,28], even though Ca plays the main role in P fixation in organic soils [8]. On the one hand, an increase in available and soluble forms of P is responsible for increased soil fertility; on the other hand, the release of P into the environment can have numerous adverse consequences.…”

“…In Poland, peat soils cover 4.07% of the country's total area [36], dominated by lowland peat soils, which account for 92% [37]. The problem of degradation of organic soils is, therefore, the subject of numerous studies, many of which concern organic soils in river valleys on fen peatlands [10,16,17,37,38]. Some studies have also considered P transformations within this soil environment [17,21,22,[24][25][26]39]; these confirm the threat of increased eutrophication of aquatic environments caused by P transformations in organic soils and also highlight the need for improved understanding of P forms' behaviour in organic soils characterised by different habitat conditions and features.…”