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Effects of seasonality, litter removal and dry-season irrigation on litterfall quantity and quality in eastern Amazonian forest regrowth, Brazil

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2008

Steel Silva Vasconcelos ,
Daniel Jacob Zarin ,
Maristela Machado Araújo ,
Lívia Gabrig Turbay Rangel-Vasconcelos ,
Cláudio José Reis de Carvalho ,
Christina Lynn Staudhammer  and
Francisco de Assis Oliveira
Steel Silva Vasconcelos*
Affiliation:
School of Forest Resources and Conservation, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611-0760, USA
Daniel Jacob Zarin
Affiliation:
School of Forest Resources and Conservation, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611-0760, USA
Maristela Machado Araújo
Affiliation:
Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, Santa Maria, RS 97105-900, Brazil
Lívia Gabrig Turbay Rangel-Vasconcelos
Affiliation:
Universidade Federal Rural da Amazônia, Belém, PA 66077-530, Brazil
Cláudio José Reis de Carvalho
Affiliation:
Embrapa Amazônia Oriental, Belém, PA 66095-100, Brazil
Christina Lynn Staudhammer
Affiliation:
School of Forest Resources and Conservation, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611-0760, USA
Francisco de Assis Oliveira
Affiliation:
Universidade Federal Rural da Amazônia, Belém, PA 66077-530, Brazil
*
1Corresponding author. Current address: Embrapa Amazônia Oriental, Laboratório de Ecofisiologia e Propagação de Plantas, P.O. Box 48, Belém, PA 66095-100, Brazil. E-mail: steel@cpatu.embrapa.br
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Abstract:

Litterfall quantity and quality may respond to alterations in resource availability expected with ongoing land-use and climate changes. Here, we quantify the effects of altered resource availability on non-woody litterfall quantity and quality (nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations) in eastern Amazonian forest regrowth (Brazil) through two multi-year experimental manipulations: (1) daily irrigation (5 mm d−1) during the dry season; and (2) fortnightly litter removal. Consistent with other tropical forest data litterfall exhibited seasonal patterns, increasing with the onset of the dry season and declining with the onset of the rainy season. Irrigation did not affect litterfall mass and had little impact on nitrogen (N) or phosphorus (P) concentrations and return, except for decreasing litter P concentration at the end of two irrigation periods. Litter removal did not alter litterfall mass or P concentration, but progressively reduced litterfall N during the course of the experiment. Overall, these results suggest significant resistance to altered resource availability within the bounds of our experimental treatments; our findings may help to constrain carbon and nutrient cycling predictions for tropical forests in response to land-use and climate changes.

Keywords

dry-season irrigationlitter removalnitrogennon-woody litterfallphosphorusresource manipulationsecondary forest
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 24 , Issue 1 , January 2008 , pp. 27 - 38
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

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References

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