Pathways of N transfer from soil to tree in forest plantations and natural forest in tropical and temperate ecosystem

• Grant number: 10/20111-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research
• Start date: July 15, 2011
• End date: July 10, 2012
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Ecology - Ecosystems Ecology
• Principal Investigator: Marisa de Cassia Piccolo
• Grantee: Marisa de Cassia Piccolo
• Host Investigator: Jacques Ranger
• Host Institution: Centro de Energia Nuclear na Agricultura (CENA). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Piracicaba , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), France

Abstract

N is recognized as a growth-limiting nutrient in forest ecosystems. Generally, native forest and tropical forest plantation are stabilished in low fertility soil and have a eficient internal nutrient cycling. Intensively managed forests, are composed of symbiotic N fixing trees that may contribute directly to the N supply of neighbouring non-fixing trees. In situ labelling techniques using 15N enriched fertilizers or organic residues allow demonstrating the use of organic or inorganic N sources by plants and soil microbes, but also the fate of deposited N in forest soils. The choice of "Biogéochimie des Ecosystèmes Forestiers" lab from INRA, Nancy (France)to develop the project was due this lab study the soil biogeochemical cycling and workings by tropical native forest and tropical and temperate planted forest. The objectives of BEFs resarch are the dynamics, and too the identification of forest systems impacts under enviromental, and the water and soil quality and funtional biodiversity. (AU)