Cycle of carbon, nitrogen and soil nutrientsin dense ombrophilous forest in the Serra do Mar State Park, in the State of São Paulo

• Grant number: 07/52482-8
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: August 01, 2007
• End date: January 31, 2010
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Ecology - Ecosystems Ecology
• Principal Investigator: Marisa de Cassia Piccolo
• Grantee: Marisa de Cassia Piccolo
• Host Institution: Centro de Energia Nuclear na Agricultura (CENA). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Piracicaba , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The Atlantic Rainforest originally occupied an area of 1.3 million square kilometers, though barely around 7.6 per cent of its original expanse has not been modified. It is still possible to find patches of the forest in the Serra do Mar and in the Serra da Mantiqueira, in the South-east of Brazil. Due to the scarcity of information on the structure and functioning of the dense ombrophilous Atlantic Forest along a longitudinal gradient, this research project has as its objective the tracing of the dynamic of C, N and other nutrients in the soil in areas of sandbank woodlands (5 to 20m in altitude), dense ombrophilous lowland forest (50 to 100m), dense ombrophilous submontane forest (300 to 600m in altitude) and dense ombrophilous mountain forest (around 1,000m in altitude). The study will be carried out in the nucleus of Santa Virgínia and Picinguaba (23° 17’ to 23° 24’ S and 45° 03’ and 45° 11’ W) with characterization of the soil by means of pedalogical classification, chemical and physical analyses and isotopic variation of C (13C/12C) and of N (15N/14N). (AU)