| Volumes and Issues Contents of Issue 11 Special Issue |
www.biogeosciences.net/6/2677/2009/
doi:10.5194/bg-6-2677-2009
© Author(s) 2009. This work is distributed
under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Basin-wide variations in foliar properties of Amazonian forest: phylogeny, soils and climate
1Earth and Biosphere Institute, School of Geography, University of Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK
2Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos, Alexander von Humboldt, Bogotá, Colombia
3UMR-ECOFOG, INRA, 97310, Korou, French Guiana
4CENA-USP, Av Centenário 303, 13416-000 Piracicaba, SP, Brazil
5Instituto National de Pesquisas Amazônicas, Manaus, Brazil
6Secretária Municipal de Desenvolvimento e Meio Ammbiente ma Prefeturia Municipal de Maués, Maués, Brazil
7Max-Planck-Institut fuer Biogeochemie, Jena, Germany
8Abteilung Ökologie und Ökosystemforschung, Albrecht-von-Haller-Institut für Pflanzenwissenschaften, Universität Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
9Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Wallingford, UK
10Departamento de Ecologia, Universidade de Brasília, Brazil
11Museo Noel Kempff Mercado, Santa Cruz, Bolivia
12Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Leticia, Colombia
13Herbario Nacional del Ecuador, Quito, Ecuador
14Empera Brasileira de Pesquisas Agropecuária, Belem, Brazil
15Instituto de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia
16Depto de Ciências da Natureza, Universidade Federal do Acre, Rio Branco, Brazil
17Museu Paraense Emilio Goeldi Caixa Postal 399 Belém, Pará 66040-170, Brazil
18University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
†Alexandre Santos died in the Amazon plane crash of 29 September 2006.
Abstract. We analysed 1040 individual trees, located in 62 plots across the Amazon Basin for leaf mass per unit area (MA), foliar carbon isotopic composition (δ13C) and leaf level concentrations of C, N, P, Ca, Mg, K and Al. All trees were identified to the species level with the dataset containing 58 families, 236 genera and 508 species, distributed across a wide range of soil types and precipitation regimes. Some foliar characteristics such as MA, [C], [N] and [Mg] emerge as highly constrained by the taxonomic affiliation of tree species, but with others such as [P], [K], [Ca] and δ13C also strongly influenced by site growing conditions. By removing the environmental contribution to trait variation, we find that intrinsic values of most trait pairs coordinate, although different species (characterised by different trait suites) are found at discrete locations along a common axis of coordination. Species that tend to occupy higher fertility soils are characterised by a lower MA and have a higher intrinsic [N], [P], [K], [Mg] and δ13C than their lower fertility counterparts. Despite this consistency, different scaling patterns were observed between low and high fertility sites. Inter-relationships are thus substantially modified by growth environment. Analysing the environmental component of trait variation, we found soil fertility to be the most important predictor, influencing all leaf nutrient concentrations and δ13C and reducing MA. Mean annual temperature was negatively associated with leaf level [N], [P] and [K] concentrations. Total annual precipitation positively influences MA, [C] and δ13C, but with a negative impact on [Mg]. These results provide a first basis for understanding the relationship between the physiological functioning and distribution of tree species across Amazonia.
Final Revised Paper (PDF, 2508 KB) Supplement (3337 KB) Discussion Paper (BGD)
Citation: Fyllas, N. M., Patiño, S., Baker, T. R., Bielefeld Nardoto, G., Martinelli, L. A., Quesada, C. A., Paiva, R., Schwarz, M., Horna, V., Mercado, L. M., Santos, A., Arroyo, L., Jiménez, E. M., Luizão, F. J., Neill, D. A., Silva, N., Prieto, A., Rudas, A., Silviera, M., Vieira, I. C. G., Lopez-Gonzalez, G., Malhi, Y., Phillips, O. L., and Lloyd, J.: Basin-wide variations in foliar properties of Amazonian forest: phylogeny, soils and climate, Biogeosciences, 6, 2677-2708, doi:10.5194/bg-6-2677-2009, 2009. Bibtex EndNote Reference Manager XML
