Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T15:38:36.187Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Litterfall and nutrient fluxes in two montane tropical rain forests, Colombia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

Erik J. Veneklaas
Erik J. Veneklaas
Affiliation:
Department of Plant Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Utrecht, Lange Nieuwstraat 106, 3512 PN Utrecht, The Netherlands
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Litterfall was sampled during one year in two undisturbed Andean forests at altitudes of 2550 and 3370 m in the Colombian Cordillera Central. Total small litterfall at 2550 and 3370 m was 7.03 and 4.31 tha-1 y-1 respectively, of which 4.61 and 2.82 were leaves, 1.06 and 0.76 woody parts, 0.66 and 0.27 reproductive parts, 0.22 and 0.23 epiphytes, 0.47 and 0.23 unclassified.

Clear differences were also found in nutrient concentrations, both between different litter fractions from one site and between equivalent litter fractions from different sites. Weighted mean concentrations for total small litterfall were (mgg-1, at 2550 and 3370m respectively): 11.7 and 7.3 for nitrogen; 0.86 and 0.44 for phosphorus; 8.4 and 3.1 for potassium. Comparison of nutrient concentrations in crown leaves and shed leaves indicated important reallocation of nitrogen (39% at both sites) and phosphorus (45% at 2550m, 65% at 3370m) before leaf shedding.

The results for litterfall amounts, litter nutrient concentrations and reallocation of nutrients in the two forests are consistent with such data obtained in other montane forests in the wet tropics.

Keywords

Colombialitterfallmontane tropical rain forestnutrientsreallocation
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 7 , Issue 3 , August 1991 , pp. 319 - 336
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

LITERATURE CITED

Benzing, D. H. 1981. Mineral nutrition of epiphytes: an appraisal of adaptive features. Selbyana 5:219–223.Google Scholar
Bruijnzeel, L. A. 1984. Elemental content of litterfall in a lower montane rain forest in Central Java, Indonesia. Malayan Nature Journal 37:199–208.Google Scholar
Cornforth, I. S. 1970. Leaf fall in a tropical rain forest. Journal of Applied Ecology 7:603–608.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edwards, P. J. 1977. Studies of mineral cycling in a montane rain forest in New Guinea. II. The production and disappearance of litter. Journal of Ecology 65:971–992.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edwards, P. J. 1982. Studies of mineral cycling in a montane rain forest in New Guinea. V. Rates of cycling in throughfall and litter fall. Journal of Ecology 70:807–827.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gates, D. M. 1969. The ecology of an elfin forest in Puerto Rico. 4. Transpiration rates and temperatures of leaves in cool humid environment. Journal of the Arnold Arboretum 50:93–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grubb, P. J. 1977. Control of forest growth and distribution on wet tropical mountains: with special reference to mineral nutrition. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 8:83–107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grubb, P. J. & Edwards, P. J. 1982. Studies of mineral cycling in a montane rain forest in New Guinea. III. The distribution of mineral elements in the above-ground material. Journal of Ecology 70:623–648.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lundgren, B. 1978. Soil conditions and nutrient cycling under natural and plantation forests in Tanzanian Highlands. Reports in Forest Ecology and Forest Soils 31, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.Google Scholar
Marrs, R. H., Proctor, J., Heaney, A. & Mountford, M. D. 1988. Changes in soil nitrogen mineralization and nitrification along an altitudinal transect in tropical rain forest in Costa Rica. Journal of Ecology 76:466–482.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Medina, E. 1984. Nutrient balance and physiological processes at the leaf level. Pp. 139–154 in Medina, E., Mooney, H. A. & Vázquez-Yanes, (eds.). Physiological ecology of plants in the wet tropics. Dr Junk, The Hague.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Medina, E., Cuevas, E. & Weaver, P. L. 1981. Compositión foliar y transpiratión de especies leñosas dc Pico del Este, Sierra de Luquillo, Puerto Rico. Acta Cientifica Venezolana 32:159–165.Google Scholar
Medina, E. & Klinge, H. 1983. Productivity of tropical forests and tropical woodlands. Pp. 281–303 in Lange, O. L., Nobel, P. S., Osmond, C. B. & Ziegler, H. (eds). Encyclopedia of Plant Physiology n.s. vol. 12D. Physiological Plant Ecology IV. Springer, Berlin.Google Scholar
Proctor, J. 1983. Tropical forest litterfall I. Problems of data comparison. Pp. 267–273 in Sutton, S. L., Whitmore, T. C. & Chadwick, A. C. (eds). Tropical rain forest: ecology and management. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford.Google Scholar
Proctor, J., Anderson, J. M. & Vallack, H. W. 1983. Comparative studies on forests, soils and litterfall at four altitudes on Gunung Mulu, Sarawak. The Malaysian Forester 46:60–76.Google Scholar
Proctor, J., Phillips, C., Duff, G. K., Heaney, A. & Robertson, F. M. 1989. Ecological studies on Gunung Silam, a small ultrabasic mountain in Sabah, Malaysia. II. Some forest processes. Journal of Ecology 77:317–331.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steinhardt, U. 1979. Untersuchungen über den Wasser- und Nährstoffhaushalt cines andinen Wolken waldcs in Venezuela. Göllinger Bodenkundliche Berichte 56:1–185.Google Scholar
Tanner, E. V. J. 1977a. Mineral cycling in montane rain forests in Jamaica. PhD dissertation, University of Cambridge, U.K.Google Scholar
Tanner, E. V. J. 1977b. Four montane rain forests of jamaica: a quantitative characterization of the floristics, the soils and the foliar mineral levels, and a discussion of the interrelations. Journal of Ecology 65: 883–918.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tanner, E. V. J. 1980. Litterfall in montane rain forests of jamaica and its relation to climate. Journal of Ecology 68:833–848.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thouret, J. -Cl. 1989. Suelos en la Cordillera Central, Transecto Parque Los Nevados. Pp. 293–441 in Van der Hammen, T., Diaz, S. & Alvarez, V. J. (eds). Studies on tropical Andean ecosystems, Vol. 3, La Cordillera Central Colombiana (Segunda Parte). Cramer/Gebr. Bomträger, Berlin-Stuttgart.Google Scholar
Tukey, H. B. Jr. 1970. The leaching of substances from plants. Annual Review of Plant Physiology 21:305–324.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Der Hammen, T., Perez, A. & Pinto, P. (eds). 1983. Studies on tropical Andean ecosystems, Vol. 1, La Cordillera Central Colombiana, Transecto Parque Los Nevados (Introducción y datos iniciales). Cramer, Vaduz.Google Scholar
Van Der Hammen, T., Diaz, S. & Alvarez, V. J. (eds). 1989. Studies on tropical Andean ecosystems, Vol. 3, La Cordillera Central Colombiana (Segunda Parte), Cramer/Gebr. Bomträger, Berlin-Stuttgart.Google Scholar
Veneklaas, E. J. In press. Nutrient fluxes in bulk precipitation and throughfall in two montane tropical rain forests, Colombia. Journal of Ecology.Google Scholar
Veneklaas, E. J. & Vanek, R. 1990. Rainfall interception in two tropical montane rain forests, Colombia. Hydrological Processes 4:311–326.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vitousek, P. M. 1984. Litterfall, nutrient cycling, and nutrient limitation in tropical forests. Ecology 65:285–298.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vitousek, P. M. & Sanford, R. L. Jr 1986. Nutrient cycling in moist tropical forest. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics. 17:137–167.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weaver, P. L., Medina, E., Pool, D., Dugger, K., Gonzales-Liboy, J. & Cuevas, E. 1986. Ecological observations in the dwarf cloud forest of the Luquillo Mountains in Puerto Rico. Biotropica 18:79–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar