Increased Litterfall Changes Fine Root Distribution in a Moist Tropical Forest

Sayer, Emma J.; Tanner, Edmund V. J.; Cheesman, Alexander W.

doi:10.1007/s11104-005-6334-x

Cited by 109 publications

(102 citation statements)

References 38 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…The similarity of the losses from litter removal and gains in litter addition probably has different causes: we speculate that losses from the soil in the litter removal plots are due to respiration being greater than additions; we did not physically remove organic matter from the mineral soil. We further speculate that increases in C in the mineral soil in the litter addition plots are a result of infiltration of dis- solved and particulate organic matter draining from the litter standing crop and/or changes in root exudates; increases in root growth are not the explanation -root growth was lower in litter addition plots (Sayer et al, 2006).…”

Section: Soil Carbon Dynamicsmentioning

confidence: 81%

Changes in soil carbon and nutrients following 6 years of litter removal and addition in a tropical semi-evergreen rain forest

2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. Increasing atmospheric CO 2 and temperature may increase forest productivity, including litterfall, but the consequences for soil organic matter remain poorly understood. To address this, we measured soil carbon and nutrient concentrations at nine depths to 2 m after 6 years of continuous litter removal and litter addition in a semi-evergreen rain forest in Panama. Soils in litter addition plots, compared to litter removal plots, had higher pH and contained greater concentrations of KCl-extractable nitrate (both to 30 cm); Mehlich-III extractable phosphorus and total carbon (both to 20 cm); total nitrogen (to 15 cm); Mehlich-III calcium (to 10 cm); and Mehlich-III magnesium and lower bulk density (both to 5 cm). In contrast, litter manipulation did not affect ammonium, manganese, potassium or zinc, and soils deeper than 30 cm did not differ for any nutrient. Comparison with previous analyses in the experiment indicates that the effect of litter manipulation on nutrient concentrations and the depth to which the effects are significant are increasing with time. To allow for changes in bulk density in calculation of changes in carbon stocks, we standardized total carbon and nitrogen on the basis of a constant mineral mass. For 200 kg m −2 of mineral soil (approximately the upper 20 cm of the profile) about 0.5 kg C m −2 was "missing" from the litter removal plots, with a similar amount accumulated in the litter addition plots. There was an additional 0.4 kg C m −2 extra in the litter standing crop of the litter addition plots compared to the control. This increase in carbon in surface soil and the litter standing crop can be interpreted as a potential partial mitigation of the effects of increasing CO 2 concentrations in the atmosphere.

show abstract

Section: Soil Carbon Dynamicsmentioning

confidence: 81%

Changes in soil carbon and nutrients following 6 years of litter removal and addition in a tropical semi-evergreen rain forest

2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…); the total P is the same as the median total P for 16 tropical soils in Silver (1994). Despite the very low Bray's P it is likely that P is in sufficient supply to the canopy trees because in a nearby site, Gigante, which has similar Bray's P, phosphorus in litterfall is 6kgha _1 y _1 (Sayer et al 2006), which is among the highest for lowland tropical forests with similar annual rainfall (Vitousek 1984).…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Trenching increased growth, and irrigation increased survival of tree seedlings in the understorey of a semi-evergreen rain forest in Panama

Barberis

2007

J. Trop. Ecol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Seedlings in tropical forests are ultimately the source of canopy trees, thus factors controlling their composition and growth potentially influence the composition of the forest. Seedlings are primarily limited by aboveground competition with trees, but below-ground competition is potentially also important. Over 4 y we experimentally reduced below-ground competition by trenching to 50 cm and reduced drought stress by irrigating in the dry seasons (6 cm every 2 d) in the understorey of a semi-evergreen rain forest in Panama. There were four irrigated plots and four unirrigated, in each plot there were eight subplots (four trenched, four untrenched); 32 seedlings (two per subplot) of each of four tree species were equally allocated to the four treaments; the four species were: Aspidosperma cruenta; Gustavia superba; Simarouba amara and Tachigali versicolor. Over all species together, trenching increased seedling height by 41% and leaf area by 140% over 4 y. The cause was likely to be increased nutrient supply, because the amounts of N, K and Ca were higher in trenched plants, though concentrations were not higher. Irrigation had no significant effect on growth. Irrigation, but not trenching, reduced seedling mortality. We conclude that below-ground competition was a major limitation for seedling growth for at least some common species (Gustavia and Tachigali in this experiment). More experiments are necessary to determine whether below-ground competition is also important in other tropical rain forests on fairly fertile soils.

show abstract

“…The forest under study is old-growth moist lowland tropical forest. The soil is an oxisol with pH c. 5.0, low concentrations of extractable inorganic phosphorus (Bray's and Mehlich III), but high base saturation and cation exchange capacity (Cavelier, 1992;Sayer et al, 2006).…”

Section: Study Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

A new approach to trenching experiments for measuring root–rhizosphere respiration in a lowland tropical forest

Sayer

2010

Soil Biology and Biochemistry

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Increased Litterfall Changes Fine Root Distribution in a Moist Tropical Forest

Cited by 109 publications

References 38 publications

Changes in soil carbon and nutrients following 6 years of litter removal and addition in a tropical semi-evergreen rain forest

Changes in soil carbon and nutrients following 6 years of litter removal and addition in a tropical semi-evergreen rain forest

Trenching increased growth, and irrigation increased survival of tree seedlings in the understorey of a semi-evergreen rain forest in Panama

A new approach to trenching experiments for measuring root–rhizosphere respiration in a lowland tropical forest

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About