In 2016, a group of experts convened to set priorities for organic phosphorus (P) research, addressing global issues, methodological strengths and weaknesses, and the benefits of understanding the organic P cycle. Seven years later, scientists and students with an interest in organic P reconvened to discuss progress and new insights, and this review highlights recent major research updates. Interest in organic P research has i...

A defining feature of the Anthropocene is the distortion of the biosphere phosphorus (P) cycle. A relatively sudden acceleration of input fluxes without a concomitant increase in output fluxes has led to net accumulation of P in the terrestrial‐aquatic continuum. Over the past century, P has been mined from geological deposits to produce crop fertilizers. When P inputs are not fully removed with harvest of crop biomass, the re...

Microbial community structure and function were assessed in the organic and upper mineral soil across a ~4000‐year dune‐based chronosequence at Big Bay, New Zealand, where total P declined and the proportional contribution of organic soil in the profile increased with time. We hypothesized that the organic and mineral soils would show divergent community evolution over time with a greater dependency on the functionality of pho...

The physicochemical and biological gradients of soil and vegetative succession along the F ranz J osef chronosequence in N ew Z ealand were used to test whether bacterial communities show patterns of change associated with long‐term ecosystem development. Pyrosequencing was conducted on soil‐derived 16S rRNA genes at nine stages of ecosystem progression and retrogression, ranging in age from 60 to c . 120 000 years since glaci...