Nutritional efficiency of plants as an indicator of forest species for the restoration of forests, Brazil

Abstract

A escolha de espécies nativas na recuperação de áreas degradadas é importante por causa da relação peculiar com os sítios onde elas se estabeleceram e exigências nutricionais específicas. A eficiência de utilização dos nutrientes dessas espécies pode contribuir para a recomendação de seu uso em áreas degradadas da Floresta Atlântica. Assim, o objetivo desse estudo foi determinar os teores de N, P, K, Ca e Mg de espécies nativas em remanescente de Floresta Ombrófila Densa das Terras Baixas, estimar a biomassa foliar das espécies, calcular o conteúdo dos nutrientes armazenado na biomassa foliar e determinar a eficiência de utilização de nutrientes. Foi realizado um estudo fitossociológico do fragmento e definida dez espécies de maior densidade absoluta. As espécies florestais apresentaram altos teores de N e baixos de P, podendo se estabelecer em ambientes férteis em N e restritivos para P, com exceção das espécies Myrcia silvatica e Tapirira guianensis que podem ser recomendadas para solos com pouca disponibilidade de N. As espécies Thyrsodium spruceanum e Protium heptaphyllum podem ser recomendadas para ambientes com pouca disponibilidade de K e Mg, respectivamente. Em fragmentos florestais de solos com baixa disponibilidade de Ca, a espécie Brosimum rubescens pode ser utilizada para restauração florestal dessas áreas. A eficiência de utilização de nutrientes pode indicar fragmento florestal diversificado, estabelecido e equilibrado nutricionalmente. Palavras-chave:Floresta Atlântica, nutrição florestal, restauração florestal. AbstractThe choice of native species in the recovery of degraded areas is important because of the peculiar relation with the sites where they were established and specific nutritional requirements. The nutrient utilization efficiency of these species can contribute to recommendations of their use in degraded areas of the Atlantic Forest. Thus, the objective of this study was to determine the N, P, K, Ca, and Mg nutrient concentrations of native species in a remnant of Lowland Dense Shade Forest, to estimate foliar biomass; to calculate the stored nutrients and the nutrient utilization efficiency. A phytosociological study of the fragment was carried out and the ten species with the highest absolute densities were defined. The forest species presented high content of N and low of P, being able to be established in environments rich in N and low in P, with the exception of Myrcia silvatica and Tapirira guianensis, which can be recommended for soils with low N availability. Thyrsodium spruceanum and Protium heptaphyllum can be recommended for environments with low K and Mg availability, respectively. Brosimum rubescens can be used for forest restoration in fragments of soils with low Ca availability. The nutrient utilization efficiency may indicate a nutritionally balanced forest fragment, diversified and established.

Nutrition of tree species in tropical dry forest and rainforest environments

“…The combined biomasses of tropical rainforest species were around three times higher than the sum of biomasses of tropical dry forest species (Table 3), contributing directly to the higher nutritional stock in that forest ( Figure 4F, G, H, I and J), noting that in rainforests there is a greater stock of nutrients stored in its aerial biomass (Lima et al, 2018). It is noteworthy that in the rainforest we evaluated three species, while in the dry forest we performed evaluations in four species, which corroborates with the differentiation between the foliar biomasses in the two environments when compared.…”

“…Content and efficiency present an inverse relationship with the forest type, as verified in studies by Alves et al (2017), for the dry forest environment, and Espig et al (2008), for rainforest. Environments with low nutritional availability usually have species with high efficiency of nutrient utilization (Lima et al, 2018), providing better utilization of soil natural resources.…”

Nutritional Contribution of Litter in Rainforest of Brazil

“…Contribution of N and Ca is high in most of the analyzed tropical forests. This happens especially because both occur in larger proportions in leaf component (Lima et al, 2018), which corresponds to most of the litter (Kumar & Tewari, 2014). Table 3.…”

Nutrient stock and nutritional efficiency of woody species in dry tropical forest as reforestation indicators

“…In this case, all species were efficient in Ca uptake as also occurred with N, suggesting that the responsibility for Ca and N cycling is not only concentrated in a group of species, but in all species with higher IV in the fragment. Lima et al (2018b) reported that when the site is of low natural fertility, species do not differ in their ability to absorb and utilize nutrients. In the case of this study, soil Ca contents are high (Table 1) and the species did not differentiate.…”

“…According to Lima et al (2018b) when studied the nutritional efficiency of plants as an indicator of forest species for the restoration of forests in Brazil concluded that the nutritional utilization efficiency may indicate a diversified, established, and nutritionally balanced forest fragment, especially when there is a diversified contribution of the species to the nutrient cycling. Therefore, this study is of great importance, being concise but essential for the advancement of knowledge in the nutritional relations of species in dry forests.…”