Functional diversity and nutritional strategies of woody species in Cerrado and seasonal forest

• Grant number: 12/18295-4
• Support type: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Effective date (Start): November 01, 2012
• Effective date (End): January 31, 2016
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Ecology
• Principal Investigator: Marco Antônio Portugal Luttembarck Batalha
• Grantee: Raquel Carolina Miatto
• Home Institution: Centro de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde (CCBS). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Savannas tend to occur where forest could be supported by current climatic conditions and, in general, both are in contact, being at steady or alternating states. In the Brazilian savanna, cerrado, soil fertility is one of the most important factor determining its physiognomic variation, as well as aluminium toxicity. Therefore, the cerrado plants are expected to have different adaptive mechanisms to deal with the dystrophic environments and to exhibit trait divergence due to intense competition for resource, when compared to forest species. We will study the relationship between mineral nutrition and functional traits in the woody component of both cerrado and seasonal forest. By considering soil nutrient content and plant functional traits along the physiognomic gradient, we expect phosphorus and nitrogen to be key drivers of the functional strategies of the cerrado and the seasonal forest. We are also interested in the response of both cerrado and forest species to different levels of soil nutrients. To study it, we will conduct an experiment with phosphorus and nitrogen addition. Considering that cerrado is threatened by agriculture expansion, and that fertilizer inputs can promote loss of species due to their adaptations to impoverished soils, this study might give us important insights into species strategies of cerrado species to overcome soil constraints, and also into the threats to cerrado areas adjacent to agricultural lands.

Scientific publications

(4)

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

MIATTO, RAQUEL CAROLINA; BATALHA, MARCO ANTONIO. Are the cerrado and the seasonal forest woody floras assembled by different processes despite their spatial proximity?. JOURNAL OF PLANT ECOLOGY, v. 11, n. 5, p. 740-750, OCT 2018. Web of Science Citations: 2.

ABE, NATALIA; MIATTO, RAQUEL CAROLINA; BATALHA, MARCO ANTONIO. Relationships among functional traits define primary strategies in woody species of the Brazilian ``cerrado{''}. BRAZILIAN JOURNAL OF BOTANY, v. 41, n. 2, p. 351-360, JUN 2018. Web of Science Citations: 1.

MIATTO, RAQUEL CAROLINA; BATALHA, MARCO ANTONIO. Leaf chemistry of woody species in the Brazilian cerrado and seasonal forest: response to soil and taxonomy and effects on decomposition rates. Plant Ecology, v. 217, n. 12, p. 1467-1479, DEC 2016. Web of Science Citations: 4.

MIATTO, RAQUEL C.; WRIGHT, IAN J.; BATALHA, MARCO A. Relationships between soil nutrient status and nutrient-related leaf traits in Brazilian cerrado and seasonal forest communities. PLANT AND SOIL, v. 404, n. 1-2, p. 13-33, JUL 2016. Web of Science Citations: 19.