Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Foreword
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Part I General perspectives
- Part II Regional floristic and animal diversity
- Part III Hydrometeorology of tropical montane cloud forest
- Part IV Nutrient dynamics in tropical montane cloud forests
- 39 Spatial and temporal dynamics of atmospheric water and nutrient inputs in tropical mountain forests of southern Ecuador
- 40 Fog deposition and chemistry in a sub-tropical montane cloud forest in Taiwan
- 41 Fog and rain water chemistry in the seasonal tropical rain forest of Xishuangbanna, south-west China
- 42 Spatial heterogeneity of throughfall quantity and quality in tropical montane forests in southern Ecuador
- 43 Effect of topography on soil fertility and water flow in an Ecuadorian lower montane forest
- 44 Human impacts on stream-water chemistry in a tropical montane cloud forest watershed, Monteverde, Costa Rica
- 45 Is there evidence for limitations to nitrogen mineralization in upper montane tropical forests?
- 46 Fine root mass and fine root production in tropical moist forests as dependent on soil, climate, and elevation
- Part V Cloud forest water use, photosynthesis, and effects of forest conversion
- Part VI Effects of climate variability and climate change
- Part VII Cloud forest conservation, restoration, and management issues
- References
42 - Spatial heterogeneity of throughfall quantity and quality in tropical montane forests in southern Ecuador
from Part IV - Nutrient dynamics in tropical montane cloud forests
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 May 2011
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Foreword
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Part I General perspectives
- Part II Regional floristic and animal diversity
- Part III Hydrometeorology of tropical montane cloud forest
- Part IV Nutrient dynamics in tropical montane cloud forests
- 39 Spatial and temporal dynamics of atmospheric water and nutrient inputs in tropical mountain forests of southern Ecuador
- 40 Fog deposition and chemistry in a sub-tropical montane cloud forest in Taiwan
- 41 Fog and rain water chemistry in the seasonal tropical rain forest of Xishuangbanna, south-west China
- 42 Spatial heterogeneity of throughfall quantity and quality in tropical montane forests in southern Ecuador
- 43 Effect of topography on soil fertility and water flow in an Ecuadorian lower montane forest
- 44 Human impacts on stream-water chemistry in a tropical montane cloud forest watershed, Monteverde, Costa Rica
- 45 Is there evidence for limitations to nitrogen mineralization in upper montane tropical forests?
- 46 Fine root mass and fine root production in tropical moist forests as dependent on soil, climate, and elevation
- Part V Cloud forest water use, photosynthesis, and effects of forest conversion
- Part VI Effects of climate variability and climate change
- Part VII Cloud forest conservation, restoration, and management issues
- References
Summary
ABSTRACT
Canopy structure and throughfall (TF) were determined in three different forest types within the tropical montane rain forest belt in southern Ecuador. Heterogeneity of TF amounts and selected nutrient concentrations were compared to heterogeneity of canopy structure and tree species diversity. Canopy structure was characterized using hemispheric images and software calculating radiation beneath the canopy, mean leaf angle, and canopy openness. TF was sampled over a 1-year period (November 2001–November 2002), and analyzed for pH, electric conductivity, potassium, calcium, and magnesium. Radiation penetrating through the canopy ranged between 9.7% and 17.2% and gap fractions between 6.1% and 9.5% in the respective forests. At 71%, 85%, and 91% of incident precipitation, TF differed significantly between the three forest types, although standard deviations (SD) were high. The highest heterogeneity in TF (as represented by SD) was found for the forest type with the greatest heterogeneity in canopy structure, and vice versa. Heterogeneity of element concentrations in TF (again represented by their SD) exhibited strong correlations (r2 = 0.912–0.987) with tree species diversity per forest as expressed by the Shannon–Wiener diversity index. Rates of nutrient leaching from seven tree species were determined experimentally. Amounts of elements leached differed between species, and specific patterns were observed per species. These findings suggest that higher tree diversity leads to greater complexity in leaching patterns and to greater heterogeneity in TF nutrient composition. […]
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Tropical Montane Cloud ForestsScience for Conservation and Management, pp. 393 - 401Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011
References
, and (1989). Influence of tree canopies on the quality of water and amount of chemical elements reaching the peat surface of a basin mire in the Midlands of England. Journal of Ecology 77: 357–386.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, , , and (1998). Study on throughfall deposition in two North Italian forest sites (Valtellina, Lombardy). Chemosphere 36: 1095–1100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, and (2002). Mapa de vegetación del sur de Ecuador. In Botánica Austroecuatoriana: Estudios sobre los recursos vegetales en las provincias de El Oro, Loja y Zamora-Chinchipe, eds. , , , and , pp. 51–64. Quito, Ecuador: Ediciones Abya-Yala.Google Scholar
, and (2001). Analysis of undisturbed and disturbed tropical mountain forest ecosystems in Southern Ecuador. Die Erde 132: 1–8.Google Scholar
, , , , and (eds.) (2008). Gradients in a Tropical Mountain Ecosystem of Ecuador. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, , , , and (2008). Climate. In Gradients in a Tropical Mountain Ecosystem of Ecuador, eds. , , , , and , pp. 63–74. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, , , and (2008). Amazonian biomass burning-derived acid and nutrient deposition in the north Andean montane forest of Ecuador. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 22, GB4011, doi:10.1029/2007GB003158.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(2001). Hydrology of tropical montane cloud forests: a reassessment. Land Use and Water Resources Research 1: 1–18.Google Scholar
, , , and (1997). Water balance and nutrient inputs in bulk precipitation in tropical montane cloud forest, Panama. Journal of Hydrology 193: 83–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, , and (1991). Evaluation of hemispherical photography for determining plant area index and geometry of a forest stand. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 56: 129–143.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, , , and (1998). Atmospheric deposition and net retention of ions by the canopy in a tropical montane forest, Monteverde, Costa Rica. Journal of Tropical Ecology 14: 27–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, , , and . (2004). Spatial heterogeneity generating plant diversity? In Proceedings of the 2nd Symposium of the A.F.W. Schimper-Foundation, eds. , , and , pp. 199–213. Stuttgart, Germany: Verlag Günter Heimbach.Google Scholar
(2007). A climatology of South Ecuador: with special focus on the major Andean ridge as Atlantic–Pacific climate divide. Ph.D. thesis, University of Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany. Also available at www.opus.ub.uni-erlangen.de/opus/volltexte/2007/656/.Google Scholar
, , , et al. (2006). Rainfall interception in a lower montane forest in Ecuador: effects of canopy properties. Hydrological Processes 19: 1355–1371.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, and (1991). An altitudinal zonation of the tropical rain forest using bryophytes. Journal of Biogeography 18: 669–678.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(2000). Hydrology and biogeochemistry of tropical montane rain forests of contrasting stature in the Blue Mountains, Jamaica. Ph.D. thesis, VU University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Also available at http://dare.ubvu.vu.nl/bitstream/1871/12734/1/tekst.pdf.Google Scholar
, , , and (2002). Water budgets of two upper montane rain forests of contrasting stature in the Blue Mountains, Jamaica. In Hydrology and Water Management in the Humid Tropics, ed. , pp. 399–424. Paris: UNESCO, and Panama City: CATHALAC.Google Scholar
(1996). In-canopy throughfall measurements of ion fluxes in Norway spruce. Atmospheric Environment 30: 4065–4076.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, and (1992). Spatial variability in the interception of inclined rainfall by a tropical rainforest canopy. Selbyana 13: 62–71.Google Scholar
, , , and (2003). Nutrient fluxes in stemflow and throughfall in three successional stages of an upper montane rain forest in Costa Rica. Journal of Tropical Ecology 19: 557–565.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, , , and (2004). The importance of epiphytes to total rainfall interception by a tropical montane rain forest in Costa Rica. Journal of Hydrology 292: 308–322.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, , and (2006a). Throughfall in a Puerto Rican lower montane rain forest: a comparison of sampling strategies. Journal of Hydrology 327: 592–602.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, , , et al. (2006b). Estimating fog deposition at a Puerto Rican elfin cloud forest site: comparison of the water budget and eddy covariance methods. Hydrological Processes 20: 2669–2692.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(2004). Baumdiversität, Waldstruktur und Wuchsdynamik zweier tropischer Bergregenwälder in Ecuador und Costa Rica, Dissertationes Botanicae No. 391. Stuttgart, Germany: J. Cramer.Google Scholar
, , and (2002). Waldstruktur und Baumartendiversität im montanen Regenwald der Estación Científica San Francisco in Südecuador. Berichte der Reinhold-Tüxen-Gesellschaft 14: 109–118.Google Scholar
, , , , and (2008). Potential vegetation and floristic composition of andean forests in south ecuador, with a focus on the RBSF. In Gradients in a Tropical Mountain Ecosystem of Ecuador, eds. , , , , and , pp. 87–100. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, , , and (1999). Interaction of atmospheric deposition with a mixed hardwood and a coniferous forest canopy at the Lake Clair Watershed (Duchesnay, Quebec). Canadian Journal of Forest Research 29: 1944–1957.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, , , and (2007). Biomass and water storage of epiphytes in old-growth and secondary montane rain forest stands in Costa Rica. Plant Ecology 193: 171–184.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, and (2004). Phytomass and water-storing capacity of epiphytic rain forest bryophyte communities in S. Ecuador. Botanische Jahrbücher für Systematik, Pflanzengeschichte und Pflanzengeographie 125: 489–504.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, , , and (1997). Spatial variability of throughfall in a subtropical rain forest in Taiwan. Journal of Environmental Quality 26: 172–180.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, and (1988). Spatial variability of throughfall and stemflow measurements in Amazonian rainforest. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 42: 63–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, , and (2002). Spatial variation of throughfall volume in an old-growth tropical wet forest, Costa Rica. Journal of Tropical Ecology 18: 397–407.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, , and (2007). Precipitation interception in Australian tropical rainforests. II. Altitudinal gradients of cloud interception, stemflow, throughfall and interception. Hydrological Processes 21: 1703–1718.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(2007). Multi-scale analysis of spatial heterogeneity of Kakamega tropical forest soils: role of disturbance, succession, soil depth, trees and NIRS. Ph.D. thesis, Institute of Botany, University of Hohenheim, Hohenheim, Germany.Google Scholar
, , , and (2005). Is geodiversity correlated to biodiversity? A case study of the relationship between spatial heterogeneity of soil resources and tree species diversity in a western Kenyan rainforest. In African Biodiversity, eds. , , and , pp. 405–414. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(2008). Untersuchungen zur räumlichen Heterogenität von Kronenstruktur und Bestandesniederschlag in einem tropischen Bergregenwald. Ph.D. thesis, Institute of Botany, University of Hohenheim, Hohenheim, Germany.Google Scholar
, , , , and (2008). Spatial heterogeneity patterns: gorges and crests. In Gradients in a Tropical Mountain Ecosystem of Ecuador, eds. , , , , and , pp. 267–274. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(2001). Untersuchungen zum Lichtklima und zur Struktur eines Bergregenwaldes im Süden von Ecuador. Diploma thesis, Institute of Botany, University of Hohenheim, Hohenheim, Germany.Google Scholar
(1983). Throughfall and stemflow in the forest nutrient cycle. Advances in Ecological Research 13: 57–125.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, , , et al. (2007). Comparison of different techniques for the measurement of precipitation in tropical montane rain forest regions. Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology 24: 156–168.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(1970). The leaching of substances from plants. Annual Review of Plant Physiology 21: 305–324.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, and (1983). Effects of Accumulation of Air Pollution in Forest Ecosystems. Dordrecht, the Netherlands: D. Reidel.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(1990). Nutrient fluxes in bulk precipitation and throughfall in two montane tropical rain forests, Colombia. Journal of Ecology 78: 974–992.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, , , and (2001). Change in water quality during the passage through a tropical montane rain forest in Ecuador. Biogeochemistry 55: 45–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, , and (2007). Spatial and temporal patterns of throughfall quantity and quality in a tropical montane forest in Ecuador. Journal of Hydrology 343: 80–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar