Marimon-Junior, BH, Du Vall Hay, J, Oliveras, I et al. (7 more authors) (2020) Soil water-holding capacity and monodominance in Southern Amazon tropical forests. Plant and Soil, 450 (1-2). pp. 65-79. ISSN 0032-079X
Abstract
Background and aims: We explored the hypothesis that low soil water-holding capacity is the main factor driving the monodominance of Brosimum rubescens in a monodominant forest in Southern Amazonia. Tropical monodominant forests are rare ecosystems with low diversity and high dominance of a single tree species. The causes of this atypical condition are still poorly understood. Some studies have shown a relationship between monodominance and waterlogging or soil attributes, while others have concluded that edaphic factors have little or no explanatory value, but none has accounted for soil-moisture variation other than waterlogging. This study is the first to explicitly explore how low soil water-holding capacity influences the monodominance of tropical forests.
Methods: We conducted in situ measurements of vertical soil moisture using electrical resistance collected over 1 year at 0–5; 35–40 and 75–80 cm depths in a B. rubescens monodominant forest and in an adjacent mixed-species forest in the Amazon-Cerrado transition zone, Brazil. Minimum leaf water potential (Ψmin) of the seven most common species, including B. rubescens, and soil water-holding capacity for both forests were determined.
Results: The vertical soil moisture decay pattern was similar in both forests for all depths. However, the slightly higher water availability in the monodominant forest and Ψmin similarity between B. rubescens and nearby mixed forest species indicate that low water-availability does not cause the monodominance.
Conclusions: We reject the hypothesis that monodominance of B. rubescens is primarily determined by low soil water-holding capacity, reinforcing the idea that monodominance in tropical forests is not determined by a single factor.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019. This is an author produced version of an article published in Plant and Soil. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | Soil moisture, Monodominant species, Water stress, Soil gravel content, Permanent wilting point, Total porosity |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Geography (Leeds) > Ecology & Global Change (Leeds) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number NERC (Natural Environment Research Council) NE/K01644X/1 NERC (Natural Environment Research Council) NE/N012542/1 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 03 Oct 2019 12:13 |
Last Modified: | 04 Sep 2020 10:50 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Springer Verlag |
Identification Number: | 10.1007/s11104-019-04257-w |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:150177 |