Regional and seasonal patterns of litterfall in tropical South America
2010
Chave, Jérôme | Navarrete, D. | Almeida, S. | Alvarez, E. | Aragão, Luiz E. O. C. | Bonal, Damien | Châtelet, P. | Silva-Espejo, J.E. | Goret, J.-Y. | von Hildebrand, Patricio | Jimenez, E. | Patiño, S. | Peñuela, M. C. | Phillips, O.L. | Stevenson, P. | Malhi, Y. | Evolution et Diversité Biologique (EDB) ; Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3) ; Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) | Instituto Universitario de Oncología del Principado de Asturias ; Instituto Universitario de Oncología del Principado de Asturias | School of Geography ; University of Exeter | Ecologie des forêts de Guyane (ECOFOG) ; Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (Cirad)-Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Université des Antilles et de la Guyane (UAG)-AgroParisTech-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) | Departamento de Fisica de la Materia Condensada [Madrid] (FMC) ; Facultad de Ciencas [Madrid] ; Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM)-Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM) | Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt = Alexander von Humboldt Biological Resources Research Institute | Earth and Biosphere Institute ; School of Geography | Universidad Nacional de Colombia Sede Amazonía ; Universidad Nacional de Colombia Sede Amazonía | University of Oxford
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Show more [+] Less [-]English. The production of aboveground soft tissue represents an important share of total net primary production in tropical rain forests. Here we draw from a large number of published and unpublished datasets (n = 81 sites) to assess the determinants of litterfall variation across South American tropical forests. We show that across old-growth tropical rainforests, litterfall averages 8.61±1.91Mgha−1 yr−1 (mean±standard deviation, in dry mass units). Secondary forests have a lower annual litterfall than old-growth tropical forests with a mean of 8.01±3.41Mgha−1 yr−1. Annual litterfall shows no significant variation with total annual rainfall, either globally or within forest types. It does not vary consistently with soil type, except in the poorest soils (white sand soils), where litterfall is significantly lower than in other soil types (5.42±1.91Mgha−1 yr−1). We also study the determinants of litterfall seasonality, and find that it does not depend on annual rainfall or on soil type. However, litterfall seasonality is significantly positively correlated with rainfall seasonality. Finally, we assess how much carbon is stored in reproductive organs relative to photosynthetic organs. Mean leaf fall is 5.74±1.83Mgha−1 yr−1 (71% of total litterfall). Mean allocation into reproductive organs is 0.69±0.40Mgha−1 yr−1 (9% of total litterfall). The investment into reproductive organs divided by leaf litterfall increases with soil fertility, suggesting that on poor soils, the allocation to photosynthetic organs is prioritized over that to reproduction. Finally, we discuss the ecological and biogeochemical implications of these results.
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