Effects of Hurricane-Felled Tree Trunks on Soil Carbon, Nitrogen, Microbial Biomass, and Root Length in a Wet Tropical Forest

Lodge, D. Jean; Winter, Dirk Christopher; González, Grizelle; Clum, Naomi

doi:10.3390/f7110264

Cited by 18 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 64 publications

(112 reference statements)

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“…The timing of soil microbial and plant competition for nitrogen (and possibly other limiting nutrients) coincided with deposition of large scolytine (Curculionidae, Subfamily Scolytinae) bark beetle frass piles beneath fallen logs. Lodge et al [112] found that roots in the upper 10 cm of soil were more abundant away from trunks felled by hurricane Georges seven months earlier, and that carbon to nitrogen ratios in scolytine bark beetle frass were high enough to stimulate microbial nutrient immobilization. Several studies in wet mid-elevation forests in Puerto Rico have shown that tree roots change their foraging patterns depending on relative availability of resources.…”

Section: Biotic Changes and Interactions In The Detrital Food Web Affmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Zalamea et al [111] found that soil under decaying wood had fewer roots and lower nitrate and magnesium concentrations than paired samples collected 50 cm away from the logs. Lodge et al [112] found that root abundance under versus away from logs changed seasonally, likely due to shifts in relative nutrient availability.…”

Section: Biotic Changes and Interactions In The Detrital Food Web Affmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Soil Biology Research across Latitude, Elevation and Disturbance Gradients: A Review of Forest Studies from Puerto Rico during the Past 25 Years

González

Lodge

2017

Forests

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Progress in understanding changes in soil biology in response to latitude, elevation and disturbance gradients has generally lagged behind studies of above-ground plants and animals owing to methodological constraints and high diversity and complexity of interactions in below-ground food webs. New methods have opened research opportunities in below-ground systems, leading to a rapid increase in studies of below-ground organisms and processes. Here, we summarize results of forest soil biology research over the past 25 years in Puerto Rico as part of a 75th Anniversary Symposium on research of the USDA Forest Service International Institute of Tropical Forestry. These results are presented in the context of changes in soil and forest floor biota across latitudinal, elevation and disturbance gradients. Invertebrate detritivores in these tropical forests exerted a stronger influence on leaf decomposition than in cold temperate forests using a common substrate. Small changes in arthropods brought about using different litterbag mesh sizes induced larger changes in leaf litter mass loss and nutrient mineralization. Fungi and bacteria in litter and soil of wet forests were surprisingly sensitive to drying, leading to changes in nutrient cycling. Tropical fungi also showed sensitivity to environmental fluctuations and gradients as fungal phylotype composition in soil had a high turnover along an elevation gradient in Puerto Rico. Globally, tropical soil fungi had smaller geographic ranges than temperate fungi. Invertebrate activity accelerates decomposition of woody debris, especially in lowland dry forest, but invertebrates are also important in early stages of log decomposition in middle elevation wet forests. Large deposits of scoltine bark beetle frass from freshly fallen logs coincide with nutrient immobilization by soil microbial biomass and a relatively low density of tree roots in soil under newly fallen logs. Tree roots shifted their foraging locations seasonally in relation to decaying logs. Native earthworms were sensitive to disturbance and were absent from tree plantations, whereas introduced earthworms were found across elevation and disturbance gradients.

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Section: Biotic Changes and Interactions In The Detrital Food Web Affmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Biotic Changes and Interactions In The Detrital Food Web Affmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soil Biology Research across Latitude, Elevation and Disturbance Gradients: A Review of Forest Studies from Puerto Rico during the Past 25 Years

González

Lodge

2017

Forests

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“…In field experiments in which canopy material was cut and dropped to the forest floor to simulate the effects of a hurricane, nutrient pulses of more labile forms of C, N and phosphorus derived from the younger leaf litter from the canopy were processed in the first year post deposition of material [4][6] [9] [10] [16] [17]. Following this, Liu et al ( [10]) showed the initial pulse of labile organic C and nutrient turnover rate in the forest soil lasted from about the first week to about 2 years.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They also showed there was an elevation of the soil microbial biomass that lasted from week 1 until at least 120 weeks after deposition of the canopy material. The hurricaneinduced deposition of course woody debris (CWD) from the canopy caused an increased immobilization of the nutrients, resulting in a decreased availability of these for the food web [11] [18] [19] [17] [20], a slowing down decomposition activities in the forest soils [9].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effects of Hurricane Otto on the soil ecosystems of three forest types in the Northern Zone of Costa Rica

Eaton

McGee

Alderfer

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Hurricanes rapidly deposit large amounts of canopy material onto tropical forest floors, stimulating metabolic processes involved in the decomposition of these materials and production of N and C resources into the food web. However, little is known about the effects that hurricanes have on specific soil microbial taxa or functional groups involved in these processes.The objectives of this study were to determine how Hurricane Otto influenced three different tropical forest soil ecosystems within the first 8 months after causing damage to a tropical forest by assessing the soil C and N factors and how the soil bacterial and fungal community compositions differed before and after the hurricane. Soil samples were collected from five 2000 m 2 permanent plots in Lowland, Upland and Riparian forest systems within the same area in the Northern Zone of Costa Rica. Standard methods were used to measure the amounts Total N, NO 3 -, NH 4 + , Total organic C, and Biomass C, while Illumina MiSeq methods were used to generate bacterial and fungal sequences. All data were analyzed using univariate and multivariate statistical methods. Using this "before and after" study design, it was found that the levels of the inorganic N and Biomass C were greater in the Post-Hurricane soil samples. The mean proportion of DNA sequences of complex C degrading/lignin degrading, NH 4 + -producing, and ammonium oxidizing bacteria, and the complex C degrading/wood rot/lignin degrading and ectomycorrhizal fungi also were greater in the Post-Hurricane soils. We also provide evidence that the excessive amounts of canopy leaf litter and woody debris deposited on the forest floor during Hurricane Otto appears to be selecting for genera that become more dominant Post-Hurricane, perhaps because they may be better able to rapidly process the newly deposited C and N-rich canopy material. This is a rare "before and after" a natural hurricane design that warrants further monitoring.

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“…Although numerous studies have looked at the effects of deadwood on soil properties (Busse , Hafner and Groffman , Lodge et al. , Zalamea et al. ) or tree growth (Sterba , Zimmerman et al.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Below‐ and above‐ground effects of deadwood and termites in plantation forests

et al. 2017

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Abstract. Deadwood is an important legacy structure in managed forests, providing continuity in shelter and resource availability for many organisms and acting as a vehicle by which nutrients can be passed from one stand to the next following a harvest. Despite existing at the interface between below-and above-ground systems, however, much remains unknown about the role woody debris plays in linking these zones. Moreover, it remains untested whether the accelerative effects of wood-feeding insects on wood decomposition influence tree growth or nutritional status in forests. In this study, we added different quantities of pine logs to the bases of saplings in two-year-old loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) plantations in Mississippi, USA. We included a treatment in which subterranean termites (Blattodea: Rhinotermitidae: Reticulitermes) were excluded from logs to determine how these insects affect the release of nutrients from wood and, in turn, tree growth. After 51 months of decomposition, we quantified below-ground effects by measuring microbial biomass, plant-available forms of N, and ectomycorrhizal diversity associated with fine tree roots. Meanwhile, above-ground measurements focused on the elemental concentrations in decomposing wood either protected or unprotected from termites and tree metrics related to growth and nutrient status. We found additions of wood to significantly increase nitrate and potential net nitrification relative to reference treatments but detected no significant effects on tree growth, needle nitrogen concentrations, or ectomycorrhizal diversity. Soil nitrate and potential net nitrification were higher under protected vs. unprotected logs, and plant-available forms of N were mostly more abundant short distances away from both protected and unprotected logs than directly under them. The wood of logs protected from termites had significantly lower concentrations of most elements compared to that of unprotected logs, largely due to the large amounts of soil imported into unprotected logs by termites. Termite exclusion had no measurable effect on tree growth, nutritional status, or ectomycorrhizal diversity, however. Our findings indicate that deadwood and termites both contribute to the spatial heterogeneity of soil properties but may have limited short-term local effects on tree growth. Longer-term studies and studies on less fertile sites are needed.

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Effects of Hurricane-Felled Tree Trunks on Soil Carbon, Nitrogen, Microbial Biomass, and Root Length in a Wet Tropical Forest

Cited by 18 publications

References 64 publications

Soil Biology Research across Latitude, Elevation and Disturbance Gradients: A Review of Forest Studies from Puerto Rico during the Past 25 Years

Soil Biology Research across Latitude, Elevation and Disturbance Gradients: A Review of Forest Studies from Puerto Rico during the Past 25 Years

The effects of Hurricane Otto on the soil ecosystems of three forest types in the Northern Zone of Costa Rica

Below‐ and above‐ground effects of deadwood and termites in plantation forests

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