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(Reference retrieved automatically from Web of Science through information on FAPESP grant and its corresponding number as mentioned in the publication by the authors.)

Implications of long-term land-use change for the hydrology and solute budgets of small catchments in Amazonia

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Author(s):
Germer, Sonja [1] ; Neill, Christopher [2] ; Vetter, Tobias [1] ; Chaves, Joaquin [2] ; Krusche, Alex V. [3] ; Elsenbeer, Helmut [1]
Total Authors: 6
Affiliation:
[1] Univ Potsdam, Inst Geoecol, D-14476 Golm - Germany
[2] Marine Biol Lab, Ctr Ecosyst, Woods Hole, MA 02543 - USA
[3] Univ Sao Paulo, CENA, BR-13400970 Piracicaba, SP - Brazil
Total Affiliations: 3
Document type: Journal article
Source: Journal of Hydrology; v. 364, n. 3-4, p. 349-363, Jan. 2009.
Web of Science Citations: 56
Abstract

The replacement of undisturbed tropical forest with cattle pasture has the potential to greatly modify the hydrology of small watersheds and the fluxes of solutes. We examined the fluxes of water, Cl(-), NO(3)(-)-N: SO(4)(2--)-S, NH(4)(+)-N, Na(+), K(+), Mg(2+) and Ca(2+) in different flow paths in similar to 1 ha catchments of undisturbed open tropical rainforest and a 20 year-old pasture established from forest in the southwestern Brazilian Amazon state of Rondonia. Storm flow discharge was 18% of incident rainfall in pasture, but only 1% in forest. Quickflow predominated over baseflow in both catchments and in both wet and dry seasons. In the pasture, groundwater and quickflow were important flow paths for the export of all solutes. In the forest, quickflow was important for NO(3)(-)-N export, but all other solutes were exported primarily by groundwater outflow. Both catchments were sinks for SO(4)(2-)-S and Ca(2+), and sources of Na(+). The pasture catchment also lost K(+) and Mg(2+) because of higher overland flow frequency and volume and to cattle excrement. These results show that forest clearing dramatically influences small watershed hydrology by increasing quickflow and water export to streams. They also indicate that tropical forest watersheds are highly conservative for most solutes but that pastures continue to lose important cations even decades after deforestation and pasture establishment. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. (AU)

FAPESP's process: 03/13172-2 - The role of Amazonian fluvial systems in regional and global carbon cycles: CO2 evasion and land-water interactions
Grantee:Reynaldo Luiz Victória
Support Opportunities: Research Projects - Thematic Grants