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Nodulation and dinitrogen fixation of legume trees in a tropical freshwater swamp forest in French Guiana

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 October 2003

Piia Koponen ,
Pekka Nygren ,
Anne Marie Domenach ,
Christine Le Roux ,
Etienne Saur  and
Jean Christophe Roggy
Piia Koponen
Affiliation:
Department of Forest Ecology, PO Box 57, 00014 University of Helsinki, Finland
Pekka Nygren
Affiliation:
Department of Forest Ecology, PO Box 57, 00014 University of Helsinki, Finland Center for Agroforestry, 203 Natural Resources Bldg., University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA
Anne Marie Domenach
Affiliation:
Laboratoire d'Ecologie Microbienne du Sol, UMR 5557, Université Lyon I, 43 Bd. du 11 novembre 1918, 69622 Villeurbanne, France Current address: UMR ECOFOG, Campus agronomique, BP 709, 97387 Kourou, French Guiana
Christine Le Roux
Affiliation:
CIRAD-forêt/LSTM, TA 10/J, Campus International de Baillarguet, 34398 Montpellier Cédex 5, France
Etienne Saur
Affiliation:
Ecole Nationale d'Ingénieurs des Travaux Agricoles de Bordeaux, BP 201, 33175 Gradignan, France
Jean Christophe Roggy
Affiliation:
SILVOLAB Guyane, UMR ENGREF/INRA ‘forêts tropîcales de Guyane’, BP 709, 97387 Kourou, French Guiana
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Abstract

Nodulated legume trees comprised 43% of the stand basal area in the low, most frequently flooded microsites, and 23% in higher, drier microsites in a tropical freshwater swamp forest in French Guiana. Dinitrogen fixation in Pterocarpus officinalis, Hydrochorea corymbosa and Inga pilosula was confirmed by acetylene reduction assay (ARA), presence of leghaemoglobin in nodules and the 15N natural abundance method. The results for Zygia cataractae were inconclusive but suggested N2 fixation in drier microsites. Nodulated Inga disticha had a 15N-to-14N ratio similar to non-N2-fixing trees, but ARA indicated nitrogenase activity and leghaemoglobin was present in nodules. All bacterial strains were identified as Bradyrhizobium spp. according to the partial 16S rDNA sequences, and they were infective in vitro in the model species Macroptilium atropurpureum. About 35-50% of N in the leaves of P. officinalis, H. corymbosa and I. pilosula was fixed from the atmosphere. Dinitrogen fixation was estimated to contribute at least 8-13% and 17-28% to whole-canopy N in high and low microsites, respectively. Symbiotic N2 fixation appears to provide both a competitive advantage to legume trees under N-limited, flooded conditions and an important N input to neotropical freshwater swamp forests.

Keywords

acetylene reduction assayBradyrhizobiumfloodingmicrotopography15N natural abundance method16S rDNA sequencing
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 19 , Issue 6 , November 2003 , pp. 655 - 666
Copyright
2003 Cambridge University Press

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