Ecosystem respiration and net primary productivity after 8–10 years of experimental through-fall reduction in an eastern Amazon forest
2014
da Costa, Antonio C.L. | Metcalfe, Daniel B. | Doughty, Chris E. | de Oliveira, Alexandre A.R. | Neto, Guilherme F.C. | da Costa, Mauricio C. | Silva Junior, João de Athaydes | Aragão, Luiz E.O.C. | Almeida, Samuel | Galbraith, David R. | Rowland, Lucy M. | Meir, Patrick | Malhi, Y. (Yadvinder)
Background: There is much interest in how the Amazon rainforest may respond to future rainfall reduction. However, there are relatively few ecosystem-scale studies to inform this debate. Aims: We described the carbon cycle in a 1 ha rainforest plot subjected to 8–10 consecutive years of ca. 50% through-fall reduction (TFR) and compare these results with those from a nearby, unmodified control plot in eastern Amazonia. Methods: We quantified the components of net primary productivity (NPP), autotrophic (R ₐ) and heterotrophic respiration, and estimate gross primary productivity (GPP , the sum of NPP and R ₐ) and carbon-use efficiency (CUE , the ratio of NPP / GPP). Results: The TFR forest exhibited slightly lower NPP but slightly higher R ₐ, such that forest CUE was 0.29 ± 0.04 on the control plot but 0.25 ± 0.03 on the TFR plot. Compared with four years earlier, TFR plot leaf area index and small tree growth recovered and soil heterotrophic respiration had risen. Conclusions: This analysis tested and extended the key findings of a similar analysis 4 years earlier in the TFR treatment. The results indicated that, while the forest recovered from extended drought in some respects, it maintained higher overall R ₐ relative to the undroughted control, potentially causing the droughted forest to act as a net source of CO ₂.
显示更多 [+] 显示较少 [-]