Nutrient-cycling mechanisms other than the direct absorption from soil may control forest structure and dynamics in poor Amazonian soils

Grau, Oriol; Peñuelas, Josep; Ferry, Bruno; Freycon, Vincent; Blanc, Lilian; Desprez, M.; Baraloto, Christopher; Chave, Jérôme; Descroix, Laurent; Dourdain, Aurélie; Guitet, Stéphane; Janssens, Ivan A.; Sardans, Jordi; Hérault, Bruno

doi:10.1038/srep45017

Cited by 86 publications

(71 citation statements)

References 56 publications

(80 reference statements)

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“…3). This result is quite surprising, given that the local environment is very often referred to as a driver of ecological processes in tropical forests (Grau et al 2017), from fine pairwise interactions between individual trees (Kraft et al 2008) to regional variation in community assemblages (Fayad et al 2016). For instance, in the Paracou forest, the proportion of bottomlands have been found to be of primary importance for forest dynamics: treefall rates are twice as high as on hilltops and tree recruitment and growth rates are higher, leading to a lower basal area and ACS (Ferry et al 2010).…”

Section: Exogeneous Driversmentioning

confidence: 71%

Key drivers of ecosystem recovery after disturbance in a neotropical forest

Hérault

Piponiot

2018

For. Ecosyst.

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Background: Natural disturbance is a fundamental component of the functioning of tropical rainforests let to natural dynamics, with tree mortality the driving force of forest renewal. With ongoing global (i.e. land-use and climate) changes, tropical forests are currently facing deep and rapid modifications in disturbance regimes that may hamper their recovering capacity so that developing robust predictive model able to predict ecosystem resilience and recovery becomes of primary importance for decision-making: (i) Do regenerating forests recover faster than mature forests given the same level of disturbance? (ii) Is the local topography an important predictor of the post-disturbance forest trajectories? (iii) Is the community functional composition, assessed with community weighted-mean functional traits, a good predictor of carbon stock recovery? (iv) How important is the climate stress (seasonal drought and/or soil water saturation) in shaping the recovery trajectory? Methods: Paracou is a large scale forest disturbance experiment set up in 1984 with nine 6.25 ha plots spanning on a large disturbance gradient where 15 to 60% of the initial forest ecosystem biomass were removed. More than 70,000 trees belonging to ca. 700 tree species have then been censused every 2 years up today. Using this unique dataset, we aim at deciphering the endogenous (forest structure and composition) and exogenous (local environment and climate stress) drivers of ecosystem recovery in time. To do so, we disentangle carbon recovery into demographic processes (recruitment, growth, mortality fluxes) and cohorts (recruited trees, survivors). Results: Variations in the pre-disturbance forest structure or in local environment do not shape significantly the ecosystem recovery rates. Variations in the pre-disturbance forest composition and in the post-disturbance climate significantly change the forest recovery trajectory. Pioneer-rich forests have slower recovery rates than assemblages of late-successional species. Soil water saturation during the wet season strongly impedes ecosystem recovery but not seasonal drought. From a sensitivity analysis, we highlight the pre-disturbance forest composition and the post-disturbance climate conditions as the primary factors controlling the recovery trajectory. Conclusions: Highly-disturbed forests and secondary forests because they are composed of a lot of pioneer species will be less able to cope with new disturbance. In the context of increasing tree mortality due to both (i) severe droughts imputable to climate change and (ii) human-induced perturbations, tropical forest management should focus on reducing disturbances by developing Reduced Impact Logging techniques.

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Section: Exogeneous Driversmentioning

confidence: 71%

Key drivers of ecosystem recovery after disturbance in a neotropical forest

Hérault

Piponiot

2018

For. Ecosyst.

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“…This study involved 13 forest permanent plots, including 12 from the Guyafor (Grau et al. ) network distributed throughout the northern two‐thirds of French Guiana (Fig. ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long‐term influence of early human occupations on current forests of the Guiana Shield

Odonne

Bel

Burst

et al. 2019

Ecology

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To decipher the long-term influences of pre-Columbian land occupations on contemporary forest structure, diversity, and functioning in Amazonia, most of the previous research focused on the alluvial plains of the major rivers of the Amazon basin. Terra firme, that is, nonflooded forests, particularly from the Guiana Shield, are yet to be explored. In this study, we aim to give new insights into the subtle traces of pre-Columbian influences on present-day forests given the archaeological context of terra firme forests of the Guiana Shield. Following archaeological prospects on 13 sites in French Guiana, we carried out forest inventories inside and outside archaeological sites and assessed the potential pre-Columbian use of the sampled tree species using an original ethnobotanical database of the Guiana Shield region. Aboveground biomass (320 and 380 T/ha, respectively), basal area (25-30 and 30-35 m 2 /ha, respectively), and tree density (550 and 700 stem/ha, respectively) were all significantly lower on anthropized plots (As) than on nonanthropized plots (NAs). Ancient human presence shaped the species composition of the sampled forests with Arecaceae, Burseraceae, and Lauraceae significantly more frequent in As and Annonaceae and Lecythidaceae more frequent in NAs. Although alpha diversity was not different between As and NAs, the presence of pre-Columbian sites enhances significantly the forest beta diversity at the landscape level. Finally, trees with edible fruits are positively associated with pre-Columbian sites, whereas trees used for construction or for their bark are negatively associated with pre-Columbian sites. Half a millennium after their abandonment, former occupied places from the inner Guiana Shield still bear noticeable differences with nonanthropized places. Considering the lack of data concerning archaeology of terra firme Amazonian forests, our results suggest that pre-Columbian influences on the structure (lower current biomass), diversity (higher beta diversity), and composition (linked to the past human tree uses) of current Amazonian forests might be more important than previously thought.

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“…Across the Amazon, soil fertility and particularly phosphorus content affect tree community composition (Quesada et al, ; ter Steege et al, ). In the Guiana Shield region, trees appear less limited by direct nutrient uptake and rely more on nutrient resorption and storage of nutrient in the biomass to complete their nutritional requirements (Grau et al, ).Tree communities were highly distinct between local habitats with seasonally flooded forests dominated by plants of the Arecaceae family, and some families more abundant on hilltops and slopes (Figure ). At a local scale, tree species have already shown pervasive habitat preference for soil hydrological and physicochemical properties (Allié et al, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tree communities and soil properties influence fungal community assembly in neotropical forests

et al. 2020

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The influence exerted by tree communities, topography, and soil chemistry on the assembly of macrofungal communities remains poorly understood, especially in highly diverse tropical forests. Here, we used a large dataset that combines inventories of macrofungal Basidiomycetes fruiting bodies, tree species composition, and measurements for 16 soil physicochemical parameters, collected in 34 plots located in four sites of lowland rain forests in French Guiana. Plots were established on three different topographical conditions: hilltop, slope, and seasonally flooded soils. We found hyperdiverse Basidiomycetes communities, mainly comprising members of Agaricales and Polyporales. Phosphorus, clay contents, and base saturation in soils strongly varied across plots and shaped the richness and composition of tree communities. The latter composition explained 23% of the variation in the composition of macrofungal communities, probably through high heterogeneity of the litter chemistry and selective effects of biotic interactions. The high local heterogeneity of habitats influenced the distribution of both macrofungi and trees, as a result of diversed local soil hydromorphic conditions associated with contrasting soil chemistry. This first regional study across habitats of French Guiana forests revealed new niches for macrofungi, such as ectomycorrhizal ones, and illustrates how macrofungi inventories are still paramount to can be to understand the processes at work in the tropics.Abstract in Spanish is available with online material. K E Y W O R D Scommunities, composition, diversity, habitat, lowland neotropical rain forest, macrofungi, soil properties, trees | 445 SCHIMANN et Al.

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Nutrient-cycling mechanisms other than the direct absorption from soil may control forest structure and dynamics in poor Amazonian soils

Cited by 86 publications

References 56 publications

Key drivers of ecosystem recovery after disturbance in a neotropical forest

Key drivers of ecosystem recovery after disturbance in a neotropical forest

Long‐term influence of early human occupations on current forests of the Guiana Shield

Tree communities and soil properties influence fungal community assembly in neotropical forests

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