Above- and below-ground net primary productivity across ten Amazonian forests on contrasting soils

Aragão, Luiz E. O. C.; Malhi, Yadvinder; Metcalfe, Daniel B.; Silva‐Espejo, Javier E.; Jimenez, Eliana M.; Navarrete, Diego; Almeida, Samuel; Costa, Antonio; Salinas, Norma; Phillips, Oliver L.; Anderson, Liana O.; Álvarez, Esteban; Baker, Tim R.; Goncalvez, P. H.; Huamán-Ovalle, J.; Mamani-Solórzano, M.; Meir, Patrick; Monteagudo, Abel; Patiño, S.; Peñuela, M. C.; Prieto, A.; Quesada, Carlos A.; Rozas‐Davila, Angela; Rudas, Agustín; Silva, João de Athaydes; Vásquez, Rodolfo

doi:10.5194/bg-6-2759-2009

Cited by 258 publications

(273 citation statements)

References 64 publications

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“…Since NDVI, PV and NPV are known correlates with canopy greenness, leaf cover, and exposed nonphotosynthetic vegetation, respectively (Roberts et al, 1997;Asner et al, 2005;Gamon et al, 1995), our findings highlight the strong degree to which canopy structural and functional variation is linked to regional patterns of geologic, hydrologic, and soil fertility variation in the lowlands. This finding may also reflect reports of widely varying community composition, productivity, and carbon storage throughout the western Amazonian lowlands (Quesada et al, 2012;Asner et al, 2012a;Higgins et al, 2012;Aragão et al, 2009;Girardin et al, 2014;Carvalho et al, 2013;Tuomisto et al, 1995).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 74%

Landscape-scale changes in forest structure and functional traits along an Andes-to-Amazon elevation gradient

et al. 2014

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Abstract. Elevation gradients provide opportunities to explore environmental controls on forest structure and functioning. We used airborne imaging spectroscopy and lidar (light detection and ranging) to quantify changes in threedimensional forest structure and canopy functional traits in twenty 25 ha landscapes distributed along a 3300 m elevation gradient from lowland Amazonia to treeline in the Peruvian Andes. Elevation was positively correlated with lidar-estimated canopy gap density and understory vegetation cover, and negatively related to canopy height and the vertical partitioning of vegetation in canopies. Increases in canopy gap density were tightly linked to increases in understory plant cover, and larger gaps (20-200 m 2 ) produced 25-30 times the response in understory cover than did smaller gaps (< 5 m 2 ). Vegetation NDVI and photosynthetic fractional cover decreased, while exposed non-photosynthetic vegetation and bare soil increased, with elevation. Scaling of gap size to gap frequency (λ) was, however, nearly constant along the elevation gradient. When combined with other canopy structural and functional trait information, this suggests near-constant canopy turnover rates from the lowlands to treeline, which occurs independent of decreasing biomass or productivity with increasing elevation. Our results provide the first landscape-scale quantification of forest structure and canopy functional traits with changing elevation, thereby improving our understanding of disturbance, demography and ecosystem processes in the Andes-to-Amazon corridor.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 74%

Landscape-scale changes in forest structure and functional traits along an Andes-to-Amazon elevation gradient

et al. 2014

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“…This has been advanced as an explanation for the observed seasonal swings over the Amazon basin by several studies (Doughty and Goulden, 2008;Asner and Alencar, 2010;Aragão et al, 2009;Brando et al, 2010). However, the observed seasonal changes in LAI are too large to be attributed to a flush of new leaves only (Samanta et al, 2012).…”

Section: Modis Lai Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Inferring Amazon leaf demography from satellite observations of leaf area index

2012

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Abstract. Seasonal and year-to-year variations in leaf cover imprint significant spatial and temporal variability on biogeochemical cycles, and affect land-surface properties related to climate. We develop a demographic model of leaf phenology based on the hypothesis that trees seek an optimal leaf area index (LAI) as a function of available light and soil water, and fit it to spaceborne observations of LAI over the Amazon basin, 2001Amazon basin, -2005. We find the model reproduces the spatial and temporal LAI distribution whilst also predicting geographic variation in leaf age from the basin centre (2.1 ± 0.2 years), through to the lowest values over the deciduous eastern and southern Amazon (6 ± 2 months). The model explains the observed increase in LAI during the dry season as a net addition of leaves in response to increased solar radiation. We anticipate our work to be a starting point from which to develop better descriptions of leaf phenology to incorporate into more sophisticated earth system models.

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“…Their major finding was that wNPP varied dramatically at the regional scale, and that a large part of this regional variation was due to soil type. Using the data available at 10 tropical forest sites in Amazonia, Aragão et al (2009) showed that total NPP ranged between 18.6 and 34.0 Mg ha −1 yr −1 , with a mean of 25.6 Mg ha −1 yr −1 , much greater than recent regional tropical forest estimates (e.g. Luyssaert et al, 2007;Del Grosso et al, 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They however acknowledged that their estimates were based on an indirect estimation of several key components of NPP. For Amazonian forests, Aragão et al (2009) provide a most useful perspective on this question. Their analysis strongly supports Bray and Gorham's (1964) model: total NPP is consistently close to 3.1 times total litterfall.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Regional and seasonal patterns of litterfall in tropical South America

et al. 2010

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Abstract. 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±1.91 Mg ha −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±3.41 Mg ha −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±1.91 Mg ha −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±1.83 Mg ha −1 yr −1 (71% of Correspondence to: J. Chave (chave@cict.fr) total litterfall). Mean allocation into reproductive organs is 0.69±0.40 Mg ha −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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Above- and below-ground net primary productivity across ten Amazonian forests on contrasting soils

Cited by 258 publications

References 64 publications

Landscape-scale changes in forest structure and functional traits along an Andes-to-Amazon elevation gradient

Landscape-scale changes in forest structure and functional traits along an Andes-to-Amazon elevation gradient

Inferring Amazon leaf demography from satellite observations of leaf area index

Regional and seasonal patterns of litterfall in tropical South America

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