Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T22:36:44.868Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Solar energy conversion efficiencies during succession of a tropical rain forest in Amazonia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

Juan Guillermo Saldarriaga  and
Robert John Luxmoore
Juan Guillermo Saldarriaga
Affiliation:
Calle 20 N. 5–44, Tropenbos Program, A.A. 42209, Bogota, D.E.-Colombia
Robert John Luxmoore
Affiliation:
Environmental Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, PO Box 2008, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831–6038, USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Mean annual quantities of solar radiation absorbed during various stages of regeneration of a tropical rain forest in the upper Rio Negro valley of Colombia and Venezuela were estimated for the consecutive intervals between clear-cut and 1,3, 10, 20, 35, 60, 80 and 200 years of growth. Forest phytomass and litter fall data from each of these stages were used to calculate the mean annual net dry matter production per unit of absorbed photosynthelically active radiation (PAR), the PAR conversion efficiency. The quantities of PAR absorbed by the forest stands were calculated from the leaf area index values with an extinction coefficient for PAR of 0.74, a PAR albedo of 0.04, and an annual mean incoming PAR of 2.86GJ m-2y-1. Efficiency decreased with increase in successional stage. During the first 10 years of regrowth, the efficiency of conversion of PAR into above-ground phylomass averaged 0.23 g MJ-1, decreasing to 0.07 g MJ-1 over the following 50 years. Inclusion of annual root production in the calculations resulted in a small increase in PAR conversion efficiency; however, efficiency was more than doubled for some periods when the annual leaf and twig lillerfall were included. Efficiency values for above-ground production were much lower than PAR conversion efficiency values estimated for above-ground production of temperate forests.

Keywords

Amazonialeaf area indexlitterfallphotosynthetically active radiationphytomassroot growth
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 7 , Issue 2 , May 1991 , pp. 233 - 242
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

LITERATURE CITED

Cannell, M. G. R., Milne, R., Sheppard, J. & Unsworth, M. J. 1987. Radiation interception and productivity of willow. Journal of Applied Ecology 24:261–278.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chazdon, R. L. & Fetcher, N. 1984. Photosynthetic light environments in a lowland tropical rain forest in Costa Rica. Journal of Ecology 72:553–564.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cuevas, E. & Medina, E. 1988. Nutrient dynamics within amazonian forests. II Fine root growth, nutricnt availability and leaf litter decomposition. Oecologia 76:222–235.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dickinson, R. E. 1983. Land surface processes and climate-surface albedos and energy balance. Advances in Geophysics 25:305–355.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heuveldop, J. 1980. Bioklima von San Carlos de Rio Negro, Venezuela. Amazoniana 7:7–17Google Scholar
Jarvis, P. G. & Leverenz, J. W. 1983. Productivity of temperate, deciduous and evergreen forests. Pp 233–280 in Lange, O. L., Nobel, P. S., Osmond, C. B. & Ziegler, H. (eds). Physiological plant ecology IV. Springer-Verlag, New York.644 pp.Google Scholar
Jordan, C. F. 1971. Productivity of tropical forest and its relation to a world pattern of energy storage. Journal of Ecology 59:127–142.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jordan, C. F. & Escalante, G. 1980. Root productivity in an Amazonian rain forest. Ecology 61:14–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kato, R., Tadaki, Y. & Ogawa, H. 1978. Plant biomass and growth increment studies in Pasoh forest. Malayan Nature Journal 30:211–224.Google Scholar
Kira, T., Shinozaki, K. & Hozumi, K. 1969. Structure of forest canopies as related to their primary productivity. Plant and Cell Physiology 10:129–142.Google Scholar
Landsberg, J. J. & Wright, L. L. 1989. Comparisons among Populus clones and intensive culture conditions, using an energy-conversion model. Forest Ecology and Management 27:129–147.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lieth, H. 1968. Calorific values of biological materials. Pp. 233–240 in UNESCO Symposium on the functioning of terrestrial ecosystems. UNESCO, Paris.Google Scholar
Linder, S. 1985. Potential and actual production in Australian forest stands. Pp. 11–34 in Landsberg, J. J. & Parsons, W. (eds). Research for forest management. CSIRO, Melbourne, Australia. 296 pp.Google Scholar
Medina, E. & Klinge, H. 1983. Productivity of tropical forests and tropical woodlands. Pp. 281–303 in Lange, O. L., Nobel, P. S., Osmond, C. B. & Ziegler, H. (eds). Physiological plant ecology IV. Springer-Verlag, New York. 644 pp.Google Scholar
Monteith, J. L. 1977. Climate and efficiency of crop production in Britain. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London Series B 281:277–294.Google Scholar
Rauner, J. L. 1976. Deciduous forest. Pp. 241–264 in Monteith, J. L. (ed). Vegetation and the atmosphere Vol II. Case studies. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Saldarriaga, J. G. 1985. Forest succession in the Upper Rio Negro of Colombia and Venezuela. PhD Thesis, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee USA.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Saldarriaga, J. G., West, D. C. & Tharp, M. L. 1988. Long-term chronosequence of forest succession in the upper Rio Negro of Colombia and Venezuela. Journal of Ecology 76:938–958.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stigter, C. J. & Musabilha, V. M. M. 1982. The conservative ratio of photosynthetically active to total radiation in the tropics. Journal of Applied Ecology 19:853–858.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Uhl, C. 1987. Factors controlling succession following slash-and-burn agriculture in Amazonia. Journal of Ecology 75:377–407.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Uhl, C. & Jordan, C. F. 1984. Succession and nutrient dynamics following forest cutting and burning in Amazonia. Ecology 65:1476–1490.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Uhl, C. & Murphy, P. G. 1981. Composition, structure and regeneration of a tierra firme forest in the Amazon Basin of Venezuela. Tropical Ecology 22:220–237.Google Scholar
Vogt, K. A., Grier, C. C. & Vogt, C. J. 1986. Production, turnover, and nutrient dynamics of above-and belowground detritus of world forests. Advances in Ecological Research 15:303–377.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yoda, K. 1978. Three-dimensional distribution of light intensity in a tropical rain forest of West Malaysia. Malayan Nature Journal 30:161–177.Google Scholar