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| Author(s): |
Nei Kavaguichi Leite
Total Authors: 1
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| Document type: | Doctoral Thesis |
| Press: | Piracicaba. |
| Institution: | Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Centro de Energia Nuclear na Agricultura (CENA/STB) |
| Defense date: | 2011-11-29 |
| Examining board members: |
Maria Victoria Ramos Ballester;
Antonio Fernando Monteiro Camargo;
Jean Paul Laclau;
Márcia Inês Martin Silveira Lopes;
Lucilia Maria Parron
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| Advisor: | Maria Victoria Ramos Ballester |
| Abstract | |
To identify the ecological importance of riparian forests is crucial to evaluate the interactions between its hydrology and nutrient cycling. This becomes more important due to fast changes in landscape promoted by mankind, which has been causing strong anthropization of these forests. The present study was conducted on a seasonal flooded riparian forest in the Southwestern Amazonia between 2005-2007. Main hydrological flowpaths (rainfall, throughfall, stemflow, overland flow, soil solution, groundwater and the Urupá riverwater) were sampled and posteriorly analyzed for C, N and macronutrients (cations/anions). Riparian forest soils are acid, well structured, poor in nutrients and with an efficient retention mechanism at the surface layers, which is linked to organic matter distribution, fine roots absorption, or retention by soil exchange complexes. Soil nutrient stocks are within the range of values usually observed in other studies in the Amazon region, revealing low fertility. The studied region exhibit high annual rainfall (around 2125 mm), with a marked seasonality (drought stress from May to September) and rain partitioning in the riparian forest divided into 15% of canopy interception and the remaining distributed between throughfall (83%) and stemflow (2%). Nutrient leaching from the canopy was observed for most elements, except Na+ and Cl-, confirming the important role of the canopy in supplying nutrients to the riparian forest. This enrichment is also influenced by biomass burning during the transition between dry to wet season. Stemflow contribution was essential, especially for NO3- and base cations, showing the necessity to include this flowpath in routine sampling in nutrient cycling studies. The highest soil fluxes were observed at the surface layer as a result of enriched inputs from throughfall, especially for K+, Dissolved Organic Carbon (DOC), PO43-, NH4+ e SO42-. Some elements exhibited leaching during wetter months, whereas Na+ has leached throughout the year, as a function of the conservative nature of this element. Base retention in soils may be linked to root absorption, sorption by organic and mineral soil phases, or anions retention, which was also observed in this study. The relation between ions and Urupá river discharge exhibited a clockwise hysteresis, suggesting an important lateral flow (overland flow) contribution and the connectivity between the riparian forest and Urupá River. Most elements had positive budgets (Ca2+, K+, HCO3-, Cl-, SO42- e COD) or were close to neutral balance (Mg2+, NH4+, NO3-, PO43-), except Na+. The results point out efficient nutrient retention mechanisms in these soils, low contribution from geochemical cycling (rock weathering) and a strong control from the atmosphere and forest canopy, characterizing a relatively close nutrient cycling (AU) | |