Abstract:Estuarine marsh is one of the most sensitive ecosystems that respond to global change and human activities. The estuarine marsh generally acts as a sink of exogenous nitrogen (N), which might produce significantly influences on the processes of biogenic elements. In the background of enhanced exogenous N import in the Min River estuary, it is significance to explore the effects of N import on the distributions and key transformation processes of phosphorus (P) fractions in marsh soils. In this paper, the effects of exogenous N import levels (NNt, control treatment; NLt, low N treatment; NMt, medium N treatment; NHt, high N treatment) on P fractions in soils of Phragmites australis marsh in Shanyutan of the Min River estuary were investigated by in situ N enrichment experiment. Result showed that the exogenous N enrichment not only increased the total phosphorus (TP) contents in soils, but also altered its distributions in soil layers. The TP contents in soils of the NMt and NNt were approximated, but the values in soils of the NLt and NHt, compared with NNt, increased by 3.5% and 4.4%, respectively. The enrichment of N generally increased the contents of available and non-available P in soils, but reduced the values of moderately available P. Compared with NNt, the contents of available P in the NMt and NHt increased by 6.5% and 12.6%, while the values of non-available P in the NLt, NMt and NHt increased by 3.3%, 3.9% and 7.0%, respectively. It should be noting that the decline of moderately available P contents in the NMt was particularly evident and the deceasing amplitude reached 6.7%.The proportions of non-available P in TP in soils of different treatments were the highest (51.8%-54.1%), followed by moderately available P with 38.1%-41.2% and available P with 7.0%-7.9%. Moreover, the proportions of HCl-Pi, Residual-P, NaOH-Po and NaOH-Pi in TP in soils of different enrichments were much higher, followed by Sonic-Po and NaHCO3-Pi, while those for NaHCO3-Po, Resin-P and Sonic-Pi were generally lower. This study found that the exogenous N enrichment altered the nutrient and acid-base conditions of soils greatly, which further influenced the distribution and availability of P fractions in soils. The increase of available P contents in the NMt and NHt, was mainly associated with Resin-P and NaHCO3-Po, while those of non-available P contents in the NLt, NMt and NHt was primarily related to Residual-P. By comparison, the significant increase of moderately available P contents in the NMt was mainly dependent on NaOH-Pi and Sonic-Po.