Soil and species effects on bark nutrient storage in a premontane tropical forest

Jones, Jennifer; Heineman, Katherine D.; Dalling, James W.

doi:10.1007/s11104-019-04026-9

Cited by 15 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 66 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Similar patterns have been observed for leaf, wood, and bark P concentrations in tree species (Heineman et al, 2016;Jones et al, 2019). Wood P concentrations vary enormously at Fortuna (19-300 µg g −1 ), and P is the wood nutrient most sensitive to soil nutrient availability (Heineman et al, 2016).…”

Section: Phosphorus Effects On Plant Performancesupporting

confidence: 72%

Fortuna Forest Reserve, Panama

2021

Smithsonian Contributions to Botany

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Fortuna Forest Reserve and adjacent upland areas of the Palo Seco Reserve in western Panama support some of the most extensively studied lower and premontane tropical forests in the world. The forests of Fortuna are among the most diverse in Central America and are therefore of exceptional significance for the preservation of regional biodiversity. This volume brings together more than 50 years of research on the climate, geology, soils, and major plant groups of Fortuna. Spanning the Continental Divide at around 1,000 m above sea level, some parts of the reserve receive more than 6,000 mm of annual rainfall, although there is considerable variation in cloud cover and seasonality. Soil fertility also varies markedly, reflecting the complex regional volcanic geology. The resulting gradients of climate and fertility across the reserve shape the composition, structure, and diversity of plant communities. A network of 12 one-hectare plots at Fortuna contains more than 400 species of trees greater than 5 cm diameter at breast height and reveals extensive compositional turnover across the reserve. One tree species, Oreomunnea mexicana, forms monodominant stands in otherwise species-rich forests, while forests on extremely infertile soils are dominated by the canopy palm Colpothrinax aphanopetala and include the tropical conifer Podocarpus oleifolius. There are also almost 400 species of bryophytes, almost 300 species of ferns and lycophytes, 31 species of palms, 80 species of bromeliads, and more than 200 species of orchids. Many species of ectomycorrhizal fungi identified from fruiting bodies are new to science. Overall, results from Fortuna highlight the remarkable diversity of plants that occur in montane forests and the extent to which their communities are structured by gradients of climate and soil fertility. The chapters in this volume provide a foundation for further research and exploration in this fascinating region.

show abstract

Section: Phosphorus Effects On Plant Performancesupporting

confidence: 72%

Fortuna Forest Reserve, Panama

2021

Smithsonian Contributions to Botany

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…However, xylem quality will also promote its own decomposition and the termite contribution to it and, to test this part, it is important to also understand the covariation between bark traits and xylem traits across tree species (Jones et al. 2019), and thereby inferring covariation between bark and xylem decomposability (cf. Chang et al.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influences of the bark economics spectrum and positive termite feedback on bark and xylem decomposition

Tuo

Yan

Guo

et al. 2021

Ecology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The plant economics spectrum integrates trade‐offs and covariation in resource economic traits of different plant organs and their consequences for pivotal ecosystem processes, such as decomposition. However, in this concept stems are often considered as one unit ignoring the important functional differences between wood (xylem) and bark. These differences may not only affect the performance of woody plants during their lifetime, but may also have important “afterlife effects.” Specifically, bark quality may strongly affect deadwood decomposition of different woody species. We hypothesized that (1) bark quality strongly influences bark decomposability to microbial decomposers, and possibly amplifies the interspecific variation in decomposition by invertebrate consumption, especially termites; and (2) bark decomposition has secondary effects on xylem mass loss by providing access to decomposers including invertebrates such as termites. We tested these hypotheses across 34 subtropical woody species representing five common plant functional types, by conducting an in situ deadwood decomposition experiment over 12‐month in two sites in subtropical evergreen broad‐leaved forest in China. We employed visual examination and surface density measurement to quantify termite consumption to both bark and the underlying xylem, respectively. Using principal component analysis, we synthesized seven bark traits to provide the first empirical evidence for a bark economics spectrum (BES), with high BES values (i.e., bark thickness, nitrogen, phosphorus, and cellulose contents) indicating a resource acquisitive strategy and low BES values (i.e., carbon, lignin, and dry matter contents) indicating a resource conservative strategy. The BES affected interspecific variation in bark mass loss and this relationship was strongly amplified by termites. The BES also explained nearly half of the interspecific variation in termite consumption to xylem, making it an important contributor to deadwood decomposition overall. Moreover, the above across‐species relationships manifested also within plant functional types, highlighting the value of using continuous variation in bark traits rather than categorical plant functional types in carbon cycle modeling. Our findings demonstrate the potent role of the BES in influencing deadwood decomposition including positive invertebrate feedback thereon in warm‐climate forests, with implications for the role of bark quality in carbon cycling in other woody biomes.

show abstract

“…This is largely due to the complex interactions that govern wood decomposition, including those between substrate characteristics, decomposer communities and environmental conditions (Cornelissen et al, 2012; Cornwell et al, 2009; Weedon et al, 2009). An additional complicating factor is the presence of bark, an important and underexplored component of woody biomass, which comprises a significant portion of forest biomass (2%–20% above‐ground tree biomass; Jones, Heineman, & Dalling, 2019) and a large fraction of nutrients in above‐ground biomass (26%–33% for nitrogen [N] and 19%–22% for phosphorus in a tropical forest; Jones, Heineman, et al, 2019). Furthermore, studying how wood and bark differ in decomposition rate and in their decomposer communities across aquatic and terrestrial habitats could help improve our understanding of decomposition processes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Because bark and wood differ in the characteristics that influence decomposition, separating bark and wood decomposition is an easy and potentially revealing way to reduce unexplained variation in wood decomposition and to understand the effect of substrate composition on microbial communities. Bark generally has two to tenfold higher N and phosphorus concentrations than wood (Antikainen, Haapanen, & Rekolainen, 2004; Harmon et al, 1986; Jones, Heineman, et al, 2019) and differs from wood in density (Fearnside, 1991), moisture (Ulyshen et al, 2016), and lignin, cellulose and hemicellulose concentration (Cornwell et al, 2009). Bark can also contain more defensive compounds than wood, potentially slowing the colonization of dead wood by decomposers (Cornwell et al, 2009; Ganjegunte, Condron, Clinton, Davis, & Mahieu, 2004).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Habitat‐specific effects of bark on wood decomposition: Influences of fragmentation, nitrogen concentration and microbial community composition

et al. 2020

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

1. Identifying the drivers of decomposition is critical for understanding carbon cycling dynamics in forest ecosystems. Woody biomass is an important pool of carbon, composed of bark and underlying wood which vary in structure, nutrient concentrations and exposure to the environment. We hypothesized that higher nutrient concentrations in bark would speed the decomposition of underlying wood, and that this effect would be greater in streams, where nutrients are less available to decomposers than on land.2. Replicate branches of three tree species, with and without bark, were placed in streams and on land in a lowland tropical forest in Panama. After 3 and 11 months of decomposition, we measured mass loss and nitrogen (N) concentrations and sequenced the fungal and bacterial communities of both wood and bark tissues.3. While bark decomposed faster than the underlying wood and had higher N concentrations, bark presence slowed wood mass loss. Nitrogen concentration could account for interspecific variation in wood mass loss, but not bark mass loss. In contrast, bark mass loss, but not wood mass loss, was faster in streams than on land, suggesting fragmentation is more important for bark mass loss in streams.Differences in fungal and bacterial community composition between bark and wood substrates were significant but small. 4.Our results indicate that bark can slow wood decomposition instead of promoting it, and that at least for branch wood, the primary drivers of decomposition differ between bark and wood. Differences in the factors driving decomposition rate between bark and wood suggest that the contribution of bark to the decomposition of woody biomass may depend on habitat. K E Y W O R D Saquatic, bacterial communities, decay, freshwater streams, fungal communities, tropical forest | INTRODUC TI ONA key goal of ecosystem ecology was to understand how carbon and nutrients cycle through ecosystems, and in turn influence ecosystem stability, productivity and diversity. Wood decomposition, which includes biotic decay processes, leaching and fragmentation

show abstract

Soil and species effects on bark nutrient storage in a premontane tropical forest

Cited by 15 publications

References 66 publications

Fortuna Forest Reserve, Panama

Fortuna Forest Reserve, Panama

Influences of the bark economics spectrum and positive termite feedback on bark and xylem decomposition

Habitat‐specific effects of bark on wood decomposition: Influences of fragmentation, nitrogen concentration and microbial community composition

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About