Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-m6dg7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-16T13:26:03.687Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Leaf decomposition and fine fuels in floodplain forests of the Rio Negro in the Brazilian Amazon

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 August 2013

Aline Ramos dos Santos  and
Bruce Walker Nelson
Aline Ramos dos Santos
Affiliation:
INPA – National Institute for Amazon Research, Environmental Dynamics Department, Avenida André Araujo 2936, 69067-095 Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil
Bruce Walker Nelson*
Affiliation:
INPA – National Institute for Amazon Research, Environmental Dynamics Department, Avenida André Araujo 2936, 69067-095 Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil
*
1Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

Despite being inundated for up to 9 mo of the year, black-water floodplain forests in the Brazilian Amazon are susceptible to fire. Post-fire tree mortality is higher and fire spreads further in the floodplain, compared with adjacent upland forest. To understand these differences between the two forest types, we compared how leaf decomposition and fine-fuel loads change with inundation and soil texture. Litterbags containing leaves of Clitoria fairchildiana were placed on upland forest floor and submerged at two depths in a backwater of the Rio Negro. We used 80 bags per treatment and retrieved subsets every ~16 d from which the contents were cleaned, dried, weighed and discarded. Over the 81-d experiment, upland leaves decomposed two to three times faster than submerged leaves. Fine-fuel biomass (litter + root mat) was measured at 28 upland forest sites and 29 floodplain forest sites of the middle Rio Negro. Floodplain forests held about twice the fine fuel (25.9 ± 10.6 Mg ha−1) of uplands (10.9 ± 2.3 Mg ha−1). Upland soils had more sand but a carpet of fine apogeotropic tree roots was more common and thicker in floodplains. We infer that slow decomposition of submerged leaves leads to high tree mortality from fire in black-water floodplains by (1) increasing fire intensity due to high fine-litter fuel load and (2) making tree roots more vulnerable to burning because they form a peat-like mat to absorb nutrients from the thick litter.

Keywords

Amazoniablack waterClitoria fairchildianaforest litter layerground fire
Type
Short Communication
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 29 , Issue 5 , September 2013 , pp. 455 - 458
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

LITERATURE CITED

ADIS, J., ERWIN, T. L., BATTIROLA, L. D. & KETELHUT, S. M. 2010. The importance of Amazonian floodplain forests for animal biodiversity: beetles in canopies of floodplain and upland forests. Pp. 313–325 in Junk, W. J., Piedade, M. T. F., Wittmann, F., Schöngart, J. & Parolin, P. (eds.). Amazonian floodplain forests: ecophysiology, biodiversity and sustainable management. Springer, Dordrecht.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
APRILE, F. M. & DARWICH, A. J. 2009. Regime térmico e a dinâmica do oxigênio em um lago meromítico de águas pretas da região amazônica. Brazilian Journal of Aquatic Science and Technology 13:37–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
BARLÖCHER, F. 2007. Leaf mass loss estimated by litter bag technique. Pp. 37–42 in Graça, M. A. S., Barlöcher, F. & Gessner, M. O. (eds.). Methods to study litter decomposition: a practical guide. Springer, Dordrecht.Google Scholar
CAPPS, K. A., GRAÇA, M. A. S., ENCALADA, A. C. & FLECKER, A. S. 2011. Leaf litter decomposition across three flooding regimes in a seasonally flooded Amazonian watershed. Journal of Tropical Ecology 27:205–210.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
COX, P. M., BETTS, R. A., COLLINS, M., HARRIS, P. P., HUNTINGFORD, C. & JONES, C. D. 2004. Amazonian forest dieback under climate-carbon cycle projections for the 21st century. Theoretical and Applied Climatology 78:137–156.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
COX, P. M., HARRIS, P. P., HUNTINGFORD, C., BETTS, R. A., COLLINS, M., JONES, C. D., JUPP, T. E., MARENGO, J. A. & NOBRE, C. A. 2008. Increasing risk of Amazonian drought due to decreasing aerosol pollution. Nature 453:212–216.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
CUEVAS, E. & MEDINA, E. 1986. Nutrient dynamics within Amazonian forests. I. Nutrient flux in fine litterfall and efficiency of nutrient utilization. Oecologia 68:466–472.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
FERREIRA, L. V. 1997. Effects of the duration of flooding on species richness and floristic composition in three hectares in the Jaú National Park in floodplain forests in central Amazonia. Biodiversity and Conservation 6:1353–1363.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
FLORES, B. M., PIEDADE, M. T. F. & NELSON, B. W. 2013. Fire disturbance in Amazonian blackwater forests. Plant Ecology & Diversity in press.Google Scholar
GOULDING, M., CARVALHO, M. L. & FERREIRA, E. J. G. 1988. Rio Negro, rich life in poor water: Amazonian diversity and foodchain ecology as seen through fish communities. SPB Academic, Amsterdam.Google Scholar
KAUFFMANN, J. B., UHL, C. & CUMMINGS, D. L. 1988. Fire in the Venezuelan Amazon 1: fuel biomass and fire chemistry in the evergreen rainforest of Venezuela. Oikos 53:167–175.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
KLINGE, H. 1973. Root mass estimation in lowland tropical rainforests of Central Amazon, Brazil. I. Fine root mass of a pale yellow latosol and a giant humus podzol. Tropical Ecology 14:29–38.Google Scholar
LUIZÃO, F. J. & SCHUBART, H. O. R. 1987. Litter production and decomposition in a terra-firme forest of Central Amazonia. Experientia 43:259–265.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
LUIZÃO, R. C. C., LUIZÃO, F. J. & PROCTOR, J. 2007. Fine root growth and nutrient release in decomposing litter in three contrasting vegetation types in central Amazonia. Plant Ecology 192:225–236.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MELACK, J. M. & HESS, L. L. 2010. Remote sensing of the distribution and extent of wetlands in the Amazon basin. Pp. 43–60 in Junk, W. J., Piedade, M. T. F., Wittmann, F., Schöngart, J. & Parolin, P. (eds.). Amazonian floodplain forests: ecophysiology, biodiversity and sustainable management. Springer, Dordrecht.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
NELSON, B. W. 2001. Fogo em florestas da Amazônia Central em 1997. Pp. 1675–1682 in Tenth Brazilian Remote Sensing Symposium. INPE, Foz do Iguaçu.Google Scholar
POORTER, L. & ROZENDAAL, D. M. A. 2008. Leaf size and leaf display of thirty-eight tropical tree species. Oecologia 158:35–46.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
RUEDA-DELGADO, G., WANTZEN, K. M. & TOLEDO, M. B. 2006. Leaf-litter decomposition in an Amazonian floodplain stream: effects of seasonal hydrological changes. Journal of North American Benthological Society 25:233–249.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
SANFORD, R. L. 1987. Apogeotropic roots in an Amazon rainforest. Science 235:1062–1084.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
UHL, C., KAUFFMANN, J. B. & CUMMINGS, D. L. 1988. Fire in the Venezuelan Amazon 2: environmental conditions necessary for forest fires in the evergreen rainforest of Venezuela. Oikos 53:176–184.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
WANTZEN, K. M., YULE, C. M., MATHOOKO, J. M. & PRINGLE, C. M. 2008. Organic matter processing in streams. Pp. 44–65 in Dudgeon, D. (ed.). Tropical stream ecology. Academic Press, London.Google Scholar