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Aims <p>The establishment of vegetation on the coral islands is limited by the nutrients released from the weathering of coral sand. Theoretically, this process can be accelerated by biological activities, such as the secretion of organic anions and protons by plants and microorganisms, as well as through artificial physical fragmentation. Yet, the consequences of these activities on the weathering of coral sand remain poorly known.</p> Methods <p>To examine the consequences, here we designed a laboratory leaching experiment with a factorial combination of three factors, which are the type (i.e., citric, oxalic, malic and acetic acid) and concentration (i.e., 0.5, 1.25, 2.5, and 12.5&#xa0;mmol&#xa0;kg<sup>−1</sup>, respectively) of low-molecular-weight organic acids and the particle sizes (i.e., 0.45–2, 2–4, 4–10&#xa0;mm) of coral sand.</p> Results <p>We found that while the mass loss and weathering release of nutrients of coral sand were little affected by the particle sizes, they generally increased nonlinearly with the concentrations of organic acids that were well depicted by the Michaelis–Menten kinetics. Structural equation modeling analysis also confirmed that the weathering release of nutrients from coral sand were mainly affected by the molar concentration of carboxyl groups and the initial pH of the organic acid solution.</p> Conclusions <p>These findings are of practical significance for the ecological restoration strategies of coral islands, and provide information for the selection of plant species with specific root exudation characteristics.</p>

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Low molecular weight organic acids dominate coral sand weathering over physical fragmentation

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年1月7日

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  • Qingqing Ren,
  • Jianghao Tan,
  • Zhaofeng Chang,
  • Xianzhen Luo,
  • Faming Wang,
  • Junhua Yan,
  • Hai Ren,
  • Enqing Hou

摘要

Aims

The establishment of vegetation on the coral islands is limited by the nutrients released from the weathering of coral sand. Theoretically, this process can be accelerated by biological activities, such as the secretion of organic anions and protons by plants and microorganisms, as well as through artificial physical fragmentation. Yet, the consequences of these activities on the weathering of coral sand remain poorly known.

Methods

To examine the consequences, here we designed a laboratory leaching experiment with a factorial combination of three factors, which are the type (i.e., citric, oxalic, malic and acetic acid) and concentration (i.e., 0.5, 1.25, 2.5, and 12.5 mmol kg−1, respectively) of low-molecular-weight organic acids and the particle sizes (i.e., 0.45–2, 2–4, 4–10 mm) of coral sand.

Results

We found that while the mass loss and weathering release of nutrients of coral sand were little affected by the particle sizes, they generally increased nonlinearly with the concentrations of organic acids that were well depicted by the Michaelis–Menten kinetics. Structural equation modeling analysis also confirmed that the weathering release of nutrients from coral sand were mainly affected by the molar concentration of carboxyl groups and the initial pH of the organic acid solution.

Conclusions

These findings are of practical significance for the ecological restoration strategies of coral islands, and provide information for the selection of plant species with specific root exudation characteristics.