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Edge effects on litterfall mass and nutrient concentrations in forest fragments in central Amazonia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 January 2001

NIGEL C. SIZER ,
EDMUND V. J. TANNER  and
ISOLDE D. KOSSMANN FERRAZ
NIGEL C. SIZER
Affiliation:
Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EA, UK Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project, National Institute for Research in the Amazon (INPA), C.P. 478, 69011-970 Manaus, AM, Brazil Present address: World Resources Institute, 1709 New York Avenue, NW, Washington DC 20006, USA.
EDMUND V. J. TANNER
Affiliation:
Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EA, UK Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project, National Institute for Research in the Amazon (INPA), C.P. 478, 69011-970 Manaus, AM, Brazil
ISOLDE D. KOSSMANN FERRAZ
Affiliation:
Coordenação de Pesquisas em Silvicultura Tropical, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazónia, C. P. 478, Manaus, Amazonas, 69011-970, Brazil
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Abstract

Forest edges bordering on pasture were created by cutting and burning the surrounding Amazonian lowland rain forest in the dry season (June) of 1990. Litterfall was measured for 3.5 y along transects 10, 50, 100 and 250-m into the forest from the forest edge. Litterfall along the 10-m transects increased by up to 2.5 times that on spatial controls (250-m transects) in the dry season in which the edge was created. In the second dry season after edge creation litterfall at 10-m was lower than on controls, after which it returned to control rates in the second wet season, 1.5 y after edge creation. Litterfall 50-m into the forest was less affected; there was a smaller rise in the dry season in which the edge was cut, and no significant effects after that. At 100-m there was no effect of edge creation on litterfall. Phosphorus concentrations in litterfall were elevated along 10-m transects, 10–12 wk after edge creation, possibly because of reduced retranslocation prior to abscission. The changes in litterfall described here are inextricably linked to the biomass collapse, which occurs near forest-fragment edges in the same area.

Keywords

Amazonedgesfragmentslitterfallmineral nutrientstropical rainforest
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 16 , Issue 6 , November 2000 , pp. 853 - 863
Copyright
2000 Cambridge University Press

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