Effects of Amazonian Dark Earths on growth and leaf nutrient balance of tropical tree seedlings

Quintero-Vallejo, Estela; Peña-Claros, Marielos; Bongers, Frans; Toledo, Marisol; Poorter, Lourens

doi:10.1007/s11104-015-2558-6

Cited by 8 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 55 publications

(61 reference statements)

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“…Despite recent declines in edible plants, the enriched levels have not returned to pre-human occupation levels at LC or in modern vegetation surveys of ADE and non-ADE forest plots in the surrounding area (Maezumi et al, 2018;Almeida et al, in review). Additionally, enriched levels of palms and other useful plants have been documented in modern forests growing on pre-Columbian mounds, anthropogenic soils, and geoglyphs abandoned more than 400 years ago in other parts of the Amazon, suggesting the persistent legacy of pre-Columbian enrichment, irrespective of modern land use histories (Erickson and Balée, 2006;Walker, 2011;Quintero-Vallejo et al, 2015;Watling et al, 2017). These data indicate pre-Columbian vs. later periods of human land use was the primary driver of ADE forest enrichment.…”

Section: Pre-columbian Impact On Forest Compositionmentioning

confidence: 77%

“…As a result, disturbed ADE forests are more flammable and exhibit increased fire intensity (Cochrane, 2009;Alencar et al, 2015). Modern observations indicate that these structural changes can be observed in ADE forests that have no documented land use following European conquest, as well as in forests that have experienced continued exploitation following colonization (Lins et al, 2015;Quintero-Vallejo et al, 2015;Junqueira et al, 2017;Palace et al, 2017). These data suggest the structural characteristics associated with ADE forests are attributed to preColumbian, opposed to later human land use and that these structural changes persist in modern ADE forests.…”

Section: Pre-columbian Management and Altered Ade Forest Structurementioning

confidence: 93%

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New Insights From Pre-Columbian Land Use and Fire Management in Amazonian Dark Earth Forests

et al. 2018

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Anthropogenic climate change driven by increased carbon emissions is leading to more severe fire seasons and increasing the frequency of mega-fires in the Amazon. This has the potential to convert Amazon forests from net carbon sinks to net carbon sources. Although modern human influence over the Earth is substantial, debate remains over when humans began to dominate Earth's natural systems. To date, little is known about the history of human land use in key regions like the Amazon. Here, we examine the history of human occupation from a ∼8,500 year-old sediment core record from Lake Caranã (LC) in the eastern Amazon. The onset of pre-Columbian activity at LC (∼4,500 cal yr B.P.) is associated with the beginning of fire management and crop cultivation, later followed by the formation of Amazonian Dark Earth soils (ADEs) ∼2,000 cal yr B.P. Selective forest enrichment of edible plants and low-severity fire activity altered the composition and structure of forests growing on ADEs (ADE forests) making them more drought susceptible and fire-prone. Following European colonization (1661 A.D.), the Amazon rubber boom (mid-1800s to 1920 A.D.) is associated with record-low fire activity despite drier regional climate, indicating fire exclusion. The formation of FLONA Reserve in 1974 A.D. is accompanied by the relocation of traditional populations and a fire suppression policy. Despite suppression efforts, biomass burning and fire severity in the past decade is higher than any other period in the record. This is attributed to combined climate and human factors which create optimal conditions for mega-fires in ADE forests and threatens to transform the Amazon from a net carbon sink to a net carbon source. To help mitigate the occurrence of mega-fires, a fire management policy reducing fire-use and careful fire management for farming may help to reduce fuel loads and the occurrence of mega-fires in fire-prone ADE forests. As both natural and anthropogenic pressures are projected to increase in the Amazon, this study provides valuable insights into the legacy of past human land use on modern ADE forest composition, structure, and flammability that can inform ecological benchmarks and future management efforts in the eastern Amazon.

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Section: Pre-columbian Impact On Forest Compositionmentioning

confidence: 77%

Section: Pre-columbian Management and Altered Ade Forest Structurementioning

confidence: 93%

New Insights From Pre-Columbian Land Use and Fire Management in Amazonian Dark Earth Forests

et al. 2018

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“…; Quintero‐Vallejo et al . ). In high pH soils, calcium can react with inorganic phosphorus and form mineral insoluble calcium phosphate, which makes phosphorus unavailable for most plants (Tyler ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Higher concentration of calcium in plants tissues can also result in nutrient imbalance and calcium toxicity that inhibits growth and causes mortality (Jefferies & Willis ; Quintero‐Vallejo et al . ). Finally, species with conservative trait values (high wood density and low specific leaf area) dominate on nutrient poor soils (Kendall's correlation between Ca and CEC is 0.8, P < 0.01, N = 200) because these traits enhance nutrient residence time in the plants (Reich et al .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Conservative species drive biomass productivity in tropical dry forests

et al. 2016

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1. Forests account for a substantial part of the terrestrial biomass storage and productivity. To better understand forest productivity, we need to disentangle the processes underlying net biomass change. 2. We tested how above-ground net biomass change and its underlying biomass dynamics (biomass recruitment, growth and mortality) can be explained by four alternative and contested hypotheses; the soil fertility, biomass ratio, niche complementarity and vegetation quantity hypotheses. 3. Above-ground biomass dynamics were evaluated over a 5-year period in 200 permanent sample plots in 8 tropical dry forests in Brazil, and related to soil fertility, community-weighted mean (CWM) traits that are important for carbon storage and sequestration (wood density, specific leaf area, maximum stem diameter and deciduousness), species richness, functional diversity and initial stand biomass. 4. Initial stand biomass was the best predictor of all three processes of biomass dynamics, providing strong support for the vegetation quantity hypothesis. In these dry forests, the dominance of conservative species, rather than of acquisitive species, is associated with high biomass growth and storage, probably because their low specific leaf area and high wood density allow them to keep on functioning during drought stress. 5. Paradoxically, high soil fertility (Ca) led to low biomass productivity, probably because of nutrient imbalance. 6. In contrast to what is shown for controlled experiments, we found no support for niche complementarity (in terms of functional diversity or species richness) for forest productivity. Biomass storage was favoured by low-rather than high trait diversity, as most of the biomass is concentrated in species with large stem diameter and high wood density. 7. Synthesis. Biomass dynamics are mainly shaped by vegetation quantity, and then by vegetation quality, in line with the mass ratio hypothesis. Dry forests show different trait-productivity relationships than wet forests, as stands with 'slow' trait values are 'fast' in terms of productivity. Diversity matters, but in a different way than expected; high trait diversity does not enhance productivity, but instead, does low trait diversity enhance carbon storage.

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“…In general, plant species from the same family grown in the same environment have similar leaf ionomes, whereas those of different families and orders are distinct (Broadley et al , White et al ). Furthermore, despite the effects of environment on the leaf ionome, strong phylogenetic effects on the mineral composition of plant species can still be observed even in extensive field surveys (Garten , Thompson et al , Kerkhoff et al , Watanabe et al , Fyllas et al , Metali et al , Zhang et al , Cornwell et al , Hao et al , Viani et al , Sardans et al , He et al , Verboom et al ), surveys of plots receiving contrasting fertilisation, such as the Rothamsted Park Grass Experiment (White et al ), and pot experiments with contrasting soils (Viani et al , Quintero‐Vallejo et al ). For example, the leaves of Poales are characterised by relatively small Ca, Mg and B concentrations, leaves of Brassicales are characterised by relatively large Ca, Zn and S concentrations, and leaves of Caryophyllales are characterised by relatively large Mg, Zn and Na concentrations (Fig.…”

Section: Phylogenetic Effects On the Leaf Ionomementioning

confidence: 99%

Variation in the angiosperm ionome

Neugebauer

Broadley

El‐Serehy

et al. 2018

Physiologia Plantarum

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The ionome is defined as the elemental composition of a subcellular structure, cell, tissue, organ or organism. The subset of the ionome comprising mineral nutrients is termed the functional ionome. A ‘standard functional ionome’ of leaves of an ‘average’ angiosperm, defined as the nutrient composition of leaves when growth is not limited by mineral nutrients, is presented and can be used to compare the effects of environment and genetics on plant nutrition. The leaf ionome of a plant is influenced by interactions between its environment and genetics. Examples of the effects of the environment on the leaf ionome are presented and the consequences of nutrient deficiencies on the leaf ionome are described. The physiological reasons for (1) allometric relationships between leaf nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations and (2) linear relationships between leaf calcium and magnesium concentrations are explained. It is noted that strong phylogenetic effects on the mineral composition of leaves of angiosperm species are observed even when sampled from diverse environments. The evolutionary origins of traits including (1) the small calcium concentrations of Poales leaves, (2) the large magnesium concentrations of Caryophyllales leaves and (3) the large sulphur concentrations of Brassicales leaves are traced using phylogenetic relationships among angiosperm orders, families and genera. The rare evolution of hyperaccumulation of toxic elements in leaves of angiosperms is also described. Consequences of variation in the leaf ionome for ecology, mineral cycling in the environment, strategies for phytoremediation of contaminated land, sustainable agriculture and the nutrition of livestock and humans are discussed.

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Effects of Amazonian Dark Earths on growth and leaf nutrient balance of tropical tree seedlings

Cited by 8 publications

References 55 publications

New Insights From Pre-Columbian Land Use and Fire Management in Amazonian Dark Earth Forests

New Insights From Pre-Columbian Land Use and Fire Management in Amazonian Dark Earth Forests

Conservative species drive biomass productivity in tropical dry forests

Variation in the angiosperm ionome

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