In the Phosphorus cycle, phosphorus exists in several different forms that can be grouped in to four categories: inorganic P which is available to plants, or organic P, absorbed P, and primary mineral P which are not available to plants. This picture shows how these different forms of phosphorus interact in the soil. Phosphorus transformations include weathering and precipitation, mineralization and immobilization, and adsorption and desorption.
The phosphorus cycle plays a significant role as to how our experiment was derived. We believe that the stream running through the RPCS backwoods is contributing to the high levels of phosphorus in the surrounding soil. Site 4 has more water running through it than the others sites, which could explain why site 4 has the most phosphorus. As the water runs towards site 4, phosphorus is released through the weathering of rocks. When it rains, the stream floods, flows into the surrounding soil, and deposites phosphorus. Due to this flooding and the cycle of the stream water with the rain, we expect that the soil along the edges of the stream would contain the most moisture. As the water spreads further to the edges of the site, the soil would contain less moisture. Therefore, the soil with more moisture would have more phosphorus becasue it is directly effeted by the stream.
For over 15 years, the phosphorus levels in site 4 have been steadily increasing. Our latest test in 2015 shows the the phosphorus level to be 120.83 ppm. Phosphorus levels this high are very harmful to ecosystems that contain water becasue it causes an increase in algae. Too much algae results in algae blooms, which block the sunlight and oxygen in water causing a severe decrease in organisms.
