Biogeosciences
www.biogeosciences.net
1726-4170
1726-4189
7
1
2010
10.5194/bg-7-43-2010
http://www.biogeosciences.net/7/43/2010/
http://www.biogeosciences.net/7/43/2010/bg-7-43-2010.html
http://www.biogeosciences.net/7/43/2010/bg-7-43-2010.pdf
43
55
2010-01-05
Regional and seasonal patterns of litterfall in tropical South America
J. Chave
chave@cict.fr
D. Navarrete
S. Almeida
E. Álvarez
L. E. O. C. Aragão
D. Bonal
P. Châtelet
J. E. Silva-Espejo
J.-Y. Goret
P. von Hildebrand
E. Jiménez
S. Patiño
M. C. Peñuela
O. L. Phillips
P. Stevenson
Y. Malhi
Laboratoire Evolution et Diversité Biologique, UMR 5174 CNRS/UPS, Toulouse, France
Fundación Puerto Rastrojo, Bogotá, Colombia
Grupo de Estudio de Ecosistemas Terrestres Tropicales, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Leticia, Colombia
Museu Paraense Emilio Goeldi, 66077-530 Belem, Brazil
Environmental Change Institute, School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QY, UK
INRA, UMR Ecologie des Forêts de Guyane, BP 709, 97387 Kourou Cedex, French Guiana
CNRS-Guyane, Station d'Etude des Nouragues, UPS 2561, French Guiana
Universidad San Antonio Abad, Cusco, Perú
Earth and Biosphere Institute, School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia
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large number of published and unpublished datasets (<i>n</i>=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<sup>−1</sup> yr<sup>−1</sup> (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<sup>−1</sup> yr<sup>−1</sup>.
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<sup>−1</sup> yr<sup>−1</sup>). 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<sup>−1</sup> yr<sup>−1</sup> (71% of total litterfall). Mean allocation
into reproductive organs is 0.69±0.40 Mg ha<sup>−1</sup> yr<sup>−1</sup> (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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