scholarly journals Regional and large-scale patterns in Amazon forest structure and function are mediated by variations in soil physical and chemical properties

2009 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 3993-4057 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. A. Quesada ◽  
J. Lloyd ◽  
M. Schwarz ◽  
T. R. Baker ◽  
O. L. Phillips ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Fertility ◽  
Physical Properties ◽  
Forest Structure ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Amazon Basin ◽  
Forest Biomass ◽  
Turnover Rates ◽  
Structure And Dynamics ◽  
Edaphic Conditions ◽  
Edaphic Properties

Abstract. Forest structure and dynamics have been noted to vary across the Amazon Basin in an east-west gradient in a pattern which coincides with variations in soil fertility and geology. This has resulted in the hypothesis that soil fertility may play an important role in explaining Basin-wide variations in forest biomass, growth and stem turnover rates. To test this hypothesis and assess the importance of edaphic properties in affect forest structure and dynamics, soil and plant samples were collected in a total of 59 different forest plots across the Amazon Basin. Samples were analysed for exchangeable cations, C, N, pH with various P fractions also determined. Physical properties were also examined and an index of soil physical quality developed. Overall, forest structure and dynamics were found to be strongly and quantitatively related to edaphic conditions. Tree turnover rates emerged to be mostly influenced by soil physical properties whereas forest growth rates were mainly related to a measure of available soil phosphorus, although also dependent on rainfall amount and distribution. On the other hand, large scale variations in forest biomass could not be explained by any of the edaphic properties measured, nor by variation in climate. A new hypothesis of self-maintaining forest dynamic feedback mechanisms initiated by edaphic conditions is proposed. It is further suggested that this is a major factor determining forest disturbance levels, species composition and forest productivity on a Basin wide scale.

scholarly journals Basin-wide variations in Amazon forest structure and function are mediated by both soils and climate

2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 2203-2246 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. A. Quesada ◽  
O. L. Phillips ◽  
M. Schwarz ◽  
C. I. Czimczik ◽  
T. R. Baker ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Fertility ◽  
Physical Properties ◽  
Wood Density ◽  
Forest Structure ◽  
Amazon Basin ◽  
Soil Phosphorus ◽  
Amazon Forest ◽  
Turnover Rates ◽  
Wood Production ◽  
Structure And Dynamics

Abstract. Forest structure and dynamics vary across the Amazon Basin in an east-west gradient coincident with variations in soil fertility and geology. This has resulted in the hypothesis that soil fertility may play an important role in explaining Basin-wide variations in forest biomass, growth and stem turnover rates. Soil samples were collected in a total of 59 different forest plots across the Amazon Basin and analysed for exchangeable cations, carbon, nitrogen and pH, with several phosphorus fractions of likely different plant availability also quantified. Physical properties were additionally examined and an index of soil physical quality developed. Bivariate relationships of soil and climatic properties with above-ground wood productivity, stand-level tree turnover rates, above-ground wood biomass and wood density were first examined with multivariate regression models then applied. Both forms of analysis were undertaken with and without considerations regarding the underlying spatial structure of the dataset. Despite the presence of autocorrelated spatial structures complicating many analyses, forest structure and dynamics were found to be strongly and quantitatively related to edaphic as well as climatic conditions. Basin-wide differences in stand-level turnover rates are mostly influenced by soil physical properties with variations in rates of coarse wood production mostly related to soil phosphorus status. Total soil P was a better predictor of wood production rates than any of the fractionated organic- or inorganic-P pools. This suggests that it is not only the immediately available P forms, but probably the entire soil phosphorus pool that is interacting with forest growth on longer timescales. A role for soil potassium in modulating Amazon forest dynamics through its effects on stand-level wood density was also detected. Taking this into account, otherwise enigmatic variations in stand-level biomass across the Basin were then accounted for through the interacting effects of soil physical and chemical properties with climate. A hypothesis of self-maintaining forest dynamic feedback mechanisms initiated by edaphic conditions is proposed. It is further suggested that this is a major factor determining endogenous disturbance levels, species composition, and forest productivity across the Amazon Basin.

scholarly journals Optical and physical properties of aerosols in the boundary layer and free troposphere over the Amazon Basin during the biomass burning season

2006 ◽  
Vol 6 (10) ◽  
pp. 2911-2925 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Chand ◽  
P. Guyon ◽  
P. Artaxo ◽  
O. Schmid ◽  
G. P. Frank ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Light Scattering ◽  
Physical Properties ◽  
Biomass Burning ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Amazon Basin ◽  
Single Scattering ◽  
Free Troposphere ◽  
Wet Season ◽  
Average Mass

Abstract. As part of the Large Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia – Smoke, Aerosols, Clouds, Rainfall and Climate (LBA-SMOCC) campaign, detailed surface and airborne aerosol measurements were performed over the Amazon Basin during the dry to wet season from 16 September to 14 November 2002. Optical and physical properties of aerosols at the surface, and in the boundary layer (BL) and free troposphere (FT) during the dry season are discussed in this article. Carbon monoxide (CO) is used as a tracer for biomass burning emissions. At the surface, good correlation among the light scattering coefficient (σs at 545 nm), PM2.5, and CO indicates that biomass burning is the main source of aerosols. Accumulation of haze during some of the large-scale biomass burning events led to high PM2.5 (225 μg m−3), σs (1435 Mm−1), aerosol optical depth at 500 nm (3.0), and CO (3000 ppb). A few rainy episodes reduced the PM2.5, number concentration (CN) and CO concentration by two orders of magnitude. The correlation analysis between σs and aerosol optical thickness shows that most of the optically active aerosols are confined to a layer with a scale height of 1617 m during the burning season. This is confirmed by aircraft profiles. The average mass scattering and absorption efficiencies (545 nm) for small particles (diameter Dp<1.5 μm) at surface level are found to be 5.0 and 0.33 m2 g−1, respectively, when relating the aerosol optical properties to PM2.5 aerosols. The observed mean single scattering albedo (ωo at 545 nm) for submicron aerosols at the surface is 0.92±0.02. The light scattering by particles (Δσs/Δ CN) increase 2–10 times from the surface to the FT, most probably due to the combined affects of coagulation and condensation.

scholarly journals Optical and physical properties of aerosols in the boundary layer and free troposphere over the Amazon Basin during the biomass burning season

2005 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 4373-4406 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Chand ◽  
P. Guyon ◽  
P. Artaxo ◽  
O. Schmid ◽  
G. P. Frank ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Physical Properties ◽  
Biomass Burning ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Amazon Basin ◽  
High Mass ◽  
Surface Boundary ◽  
Free Troposphere ◽  
Wet Season ◽  
Average Mass

Abstract. As part of the Large Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia – Smoke, Aerosols, Clouds, Rainfall and Climate (LBA-SMOCC) campaign, detailed surface and airborne aerosol measurements were performed over the Amazon Basin during the dry to wet season from 16 September to 14 November 2002. Optical and physical properties of aerosols at the surface, boundary layer (BL) and free troposphere (FT) during the dry season are discussed in this article. Carbon monoxide (CO) is used as a tracer for biomass burning emissions. At the surface, good correlation among the light scattering coefficient (σs at 550 nm), PM2.5, and CO indicates that biomass burning is the main source of aerosols. Accumulation of haze during some of the large-scale biomass burning events led to high mass loadings (PM2.5=200 µgm−3), σs (1400 Mm−1), aerosol optical depth at 500 nm (3.0), and CO (3000 ppb). A few rainy episodes reduced the aerosol mass loading, number concentration (CN) and CO concentration by two orders of magnitude. The correlation analysis between σs and aerosol optical thickness shows that most of the optically active aerosols are confined to a layer with a scale height of 1660 m during the burning season. The average mass scattering and absorption efficiencies (532 nm) for small particles (diameter Dp<1.5 µm) at surface level are found to be 5.3 and 0.42 m2 g−1, respectively, when relating the aerosol optical properties to PM2.5 aerosols. The observed mean single scattering albedo (ωo at ~540 nm) for submicron aerosols at the surface (0.92±0.02) is significantly higher than reported previously. The scattering efficiency (dσs/dCN) of particles increases 2–10 times from the surface to the FT, most probably due to the combined affects of coagulation and condensation.

scholarly journals Understanding the uncertainty in global forest carbon turnover

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (15) ◽  
pp. 3961-3989 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas A. M. Pugh ◽  
Tim Rademacher ◽  
Sarah L. Shafer ◽  
Jörg Steinkamp ◽  
Jonathan Barichivich ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Tree Mortality ◽  
Forest Biomass ◽  
Turnover Time ◽  
Biomass Carbon ◽  
Carbon Turnover ◽  
Turnover Rates ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Future ◽  
Total Turnover

Abstract. The length of time that carbon remains in forest biomass is one of the largest uncertainties in the global carbon cycle, with both recent historical baselines and future responses to environmental change poorly constrained by available observations. In the absence of large-scale observations, models used for global assessments tend to fall back on simplified assumptions of the turnover rates of biomass and soil carbon pools. In this study, the biomass carbon turnover times calculated by an ensemble of contemporary terrestrial biosphere models (TBMs) are analysed to assess their current capability to accurately estimate biomass carbon turnover times in forests and how these times are anticipated to change in the future. Modelled baseline 1985–2014 global average forest biomass turnover times vary from 12.2 to 23.5 years between TBMs. TBM differences in phenological processes, which control allocation to, and turnover rate of, leaves and fine roots, are as important as tree mortality with regard to explaining the variation in total turnover among TBMs. The different governing mechanisms exhibited by each TBM result in a wide range of plausible turnover time projections for the end of the century. Based on these simulations, it is not possible to draw robust conclusions regarding likely future changes in turnover time, and thus biomass change, for different regions. Both spatial and temporal uncertainty in turnover time are strongly linked to model assumptions concerning plant functional type distributions and their controls. Thirteen model-based hypotheses of controls on turnover time are identified, along with recommendations for pragmatic steps to test them using existing and novel observations. Efforts to resolve uncertainty in turnover time, and thus its impacts on the future evolution of biomass carbon stocks across the world's forests, will need to address both mortality and establishment components of forest demography, as well as allocation of carbon to woody versus non-woody biomass growth.

scholarly journals Floodplains as an Achilles’ heel of Amazonian forest resilience

2017 ◽  
Vol 114 (17) ◽  
pp. 4442-4446 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernardo M. Flores ◽  
Milena Holmgren ◽  
Chi Xu ◽  
Egbert H. van Nes ◽  
Catarina C. Jakovac ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Forest Structure ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Amazon Basin ◽  
Climatic Variation ◽  
Tree Cover ◽  
Cascading Effects ◽  
Forest Resilience ◽  
Central Amazonia ◽  
Lowland Forests ◽  
The Impact

The massive forests of central Amazonia are often considered relatively resilient against climatic variation, but this view is challenged by the wildfires invoked by recent droughts. The impact of such fires that spread from pervasive sources of ignition may reveal where forests are less likely to persist in a drier future. Here we combine field observations with remotely sensed information for the whole Amazon to show that the annually inundated lowland forests that run through the heart of the system may be trapped relatively easily into a fire-dominated savanna state. This lower forest resilience on floodplains is suggested by patterns of tree cover distribution across the basin, and supported by our field and remote sensing studies showing that floodplain fires have a stronger and longer-lasting impact on forest structure as well as soil fertility. Although floodplains cover only 14% of the Amazon basin, their fires can have substantial cascading effects because forests and peatlands may release large amounts of carbon, and wildfires can spread to adjacent uplands. Floodplains are thus an Achilles’ heel of the Amazon system when it comes to the risk of large-scale climate-driven transitions.

scholarly journals Analysing Amazonian forest productivity using a new individual and trait-based model (TFS v.1)

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 1413-1452 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. M. Fyllas ◽  
E. Gloor ◽  
L. M. Mercado ◽  
S. Sitch ◽  
C. A. Quesada ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Fertility ◽  
Functional Traits ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Amazon Basin ◽  
Census Data ◽  
Forest Growth ◽  
High Rate ◽  
Water Fluxes ◽  
Amazonian Forest ◽  
Large Trees

Abstract. Repeated long-term censuses have revealed large-scale spatial patterns in Amazon Basin forest structure and dynamism, with some forests in the west of the Basin having up to a twice as high rate of aboveground biomass production and tree recruitment as forests in the east. Possible causes for this variation could be the climatic and edaphic gradients across the Basin and/or the spatial distribution of tree species composition. To help understand causes of this variation a new individual-based model of tropical forest growth designed to take full advantage of the forest census data available from the Amazonian Forest Inventory Network (RAINFOR) has been developed. The model incorporates variations in tree size distribution, functional traits and soil physical properties and runs at the stand level with four functional traits, leaf dry mass per area (Ma), leaf nitrogen (NL) and phosphorus (PL) content and wood density (DW) used to represent a continuum of plant strategies found in tropical forests. We first applied the model to validate canopy-level water fluxes at three Amazon eddy flux sites. For all three sites the canopy-level water fluxes were adequately simulated. We then applied the model at seven plots, where intensive measurements of carbon allocation are available. Tree-by-tree multi-annual growth rates generally agreed well with observations for small trees, but with deviations identified for large trees. At the stand-level, simulations at 40 plots were used to explore the influence of climate and soil fertility on the gross (ΠG) and net (ΠN) primary production rates as well as the carbon use efficiency (CU). Simulated ΠG, ΠN and CU were not associated with temperature. However all three measures of stand level productivity were positively related to annual precipitation and soil fertility.

scholarly journals Understanding the uncertainty in global forest carbon turnover

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas A. M. Pugh ◽  
Tim T. Rademacher ◽  
Sarah L. Shafer ◽  
Jörg Steinkamp ◽  
Jonathan Barichivich ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Tree Mortality ◽  
Forest Biomass ◽  
Turnover Time ◽  
Biomass Carbon ◽  
Carbon Turnover ◽  
Turnover Rates ◽  
Temporal Uncertainty ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Total Turnover

Abstract. The length of time that carbon remains in forest biomass is one of the largest uncertainties in the global carbon cycle, with both recent-historical baselines and future responses to environmental change poorly constrained by available observations. In the absence of large-scale observations, models tend to fall back on simplified assumptions of the turnover rates of biomass and soil carbon pools to make global assessments. In this study, the biomass carbon turnover times calculated by an ensemble of contemporary terrestrial biosphere models (TBMs) are analysed to assess their current capability to accurately estimate biomass carbon turnover times in forests and how these times are anticipated to change in the future. Modelled baseline 1985–2014 global forest biomass turnover times vary from 12.2 to 23.5 years between models. TBM differences in phenological processes, which control allocation to and turnover rate of leaves and fine roots, are as important as tree mortality with regard to explaining the variation in total turnover among TBMs. The different governing mechanisms exhibited by each TBM result in a wide range of plausible turnover time projections for the end of the century. Based on these simulations, it is not possible to draw robust conclusions regarding likely future changes in turnover time for different regions. Both spatial and temporal uncertainty in turnover time are strongly linked to model assumptions concerning plant functional type distributions and their controls. Twelve model-based hypotheses are identified, along with recommendations for pragmatic steps to test them using existing and novel observations, which would help to reduce both spatial and temporal uncertainty in turnover time. Efforts to resolve uncertainty in turnover time will need to address both mortality and establishment components of forest demography, as well as key drivers of demography such as allocation of carbon to woody versus non-woody biomass growth.

Properties and Management of Oxidic Soils

2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony S. R. Juo ◽  
Kathrin Franzluebbers
Keyword(s):  
Physical Properties ◽  
Bulk Density ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Amazon Basin ◽  
Pacific Islands ◽  
Clay Fraction ◽  
Soil Taxonomy ◽  
High Base ◽  
Hematite Fe2o3 ◽  
The Tropics

Oxidic soils are deeply weathered, fine-textured, oxide-rich soils in the tropics. These soils are the second most abundant soils in the tropics. Geographically, oxidic soils are found in Latin America (Brazil, Central America), East and Central Africa (Kenya, Congo, and Cameroon), the Caribbean Basin, and the Pacific Islands. In southeastern Asia, oxidic soils are found in isolated areas of Indonesia, the Philippines, and northern Australia, usually on the volcanic and limestone-dominated geomorphic surfaces. Oxidic soils are oxide-rich, low bulk density Oxisols, Alfisols, and Ultisols according to the Soil Taxonomy classification. In other soil classification schemes, most oxidic soils are classified under Sols Ferallitiques according to the French system, and Ferralsols and Nitosols under the FAO/UNESCO system. Oxidic soils are differentiated into high-base-status and low-base-status soils on the basis of the 70% base saturation limit calculated from effective CEC. The high-base-status oxidic soils generally are enriched with Ca-saturated organic matter in the surface layer and are among the more productive upland soils in the tropics. The low-base-status oxidic soils are acidic, have a low effective CEC, and the degree of exchangeable Al saturation often exceeds 60% in the subsoil horizons. Because of their excellent soil physical properties, oxidic soils are more resistant to soil erosion and therefore better suited to large-scale mechanized agriculture than kaolinitic soils. Although the dominant clay mineral is kaolinite, the presence of moderate amounts of crystalline and amorphous Fe and Al oxides and hydrous oxides (around 5% Fe2O3 or higher) with a high specific surface area (100 m2/g or larger) gives rise to many unique chemical and physical properties, such as a variable surface charge, the formation of microaggregates, low bulk density (0.8-1.2 Mg/ m3), stable soil structure, and high permeability. Most oxidic soils are red or dark red due to the presence of clay-size hematite (Fe2O3) in the soil. The yellowish oxidic soils contain primarily goethite (FeOOH) in the clay fraction and occur in the wetter geomorphic positions of a deeply weathered landscape. Extensive areas of clayey, yellowish oxidic soils are found in the Amazon Basin. Gibbsite (A1OOH) is the major crystalline Al oxide.

Understory biomass estimation based on Structure from Motion data by Multi-layered forest drone survey

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yupan Zhang ◽  
Yuichi Onda ◽  
Hiroaki Kato ◽  
Xinchao Sun ◽  
Takashi Gomi
Keyword(s):  
Structure From Motion ◽  
Forest Structure ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Forest Canopy ◽  
Point Clouds ◽  
Understory Vegetation ◽  
Biomass Estimation ◽  
Canopy Openness ◽  
Cubic Model ◽  
Overlap Analysis

&lt;p&gt;Understory vegetation is an important part of evapotranspiration from forest floor. Forest management changes the forest structure and then affects the understory vegetation biomass (UVB). Quantitative measurement and estimation of&amp;#160; UVB is a step cannot be ignored in the study of forest ecology and forest evapotranspiration. However, large-scale biomass measurement and estimation is challenging. In this study, Structure from Motion (SfM) was adopted simultaneously at two different layers in a plantation forest made by Japanese cedar and Japanese cypress to reconstruct forest structure from understory to above canopy: i) understory drone survey in a 1.1h sub-catchment to generate canopy height model (CHM) based on dense point clouds data derived from a manual low-flying drone under the canopy; ii) Above-canopy drone survey in whole catchment (33.2 ha) to compute canopy openness data based on point clouds of canopy derived from an autonomous flying drone above the canopy. Combined with actual biomass data from field harvesting to develop regression models between the CHM and UVB, which was then used to map spatial distribution of&amp;#160; UVB in sub-catchment. The relationship between UVB and canopy openness data was then developed by overlap analysis. This approach yielded high resolution understory over catchment scale with a point cloud density of more than 20 points/cm&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;. Strong coefficients of determination (R-squared = 0.75) of the cubic model supported prediction of UVB from CHM, the average UVB was 0.82kg/m&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; and dominated by low ferns. The corresponding forest canopy openness in this area was 42.48% on average. Overlap analysis show no significant interactions between them in a cubic model with weak predictive power (R-squared &lt; 0.46). Overall, we reconstructed the multi-layered structure of the forest and provided models of UVB. Understory survey has high accuracy for biomass measurement, but it&amp;#8217;s inherently difficult to estimate UVB only based on canopy openness result.&lt;/p&gt;

scholarly journals Forest biomass and wood consumption In the lower course of the Amazon: a case study of rhe Urubueua Island

1999 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Akio TSUCHIYA ◽  
Mario HIRAOKA
Keyword(s):  
Water Stress ◽  
Forest Structure ◽  
Forest Biomass ◽  
Human Intervention ◽  
Terra Firme ◽  
Wood Volume ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Várzea Forests ◽  
Wood Consumption

Várzea and terra-firme forests in the lower course of the Amazon were compared in terms of forest structure, wood volume increments and forest biomass. The wood volume of várzea forests was smaller than that of terra-firme forests, particularly when severe human intervention such as the cultivation of açaí palm occurred. The difference was even greater in the forest weight comparison because of the lower wood density of várzea trees. These trees are not directly influenced by water stress during the dry season, while late wood with a high density is formed in the terra-firme trees. The annual forest disappearance area due to firewood for tile factories was estimated to be about 276 ha on the island investigated, which had an area of 36,200 ha. Assuming that the forests are rotatively cultivated every 25 to 30 years, the total deforestation area is 6,870-6,948 ha in 25 years and 8,244~8,337 ha in 30 years. This result means that the balance between forest biomass and utilization is not in crisis, however, this balance might be lost as long as substitutive energy such as electricity is not supplied.

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