U.S. Department of EnergyOffice of Scientific and Technical Information
Throughfall-Reduction Drying Effects on Forest Floor Plant Tissue Biomass (Oi+Oe soil horizons) and Moisture Content in Four Lowland Panamanian Forests
Abstract
Objectives: Climatic drying is predicted for many tropical forests, yet effects on soil properties across moisture and soil gradients within tropical forests remain poorly characterized, hampering predictions of forest-climate feedbacks. We hypothesized that drying would suppress soil CO2 fluxes (i.e., respiration) in already-drier tropical forests by further reductions in soil moisture, but increases CO2 fluxes in wetter tropical forests by alleviating anaerobiosis and soil saturation. We measured soil CO2 fluxes, soil moisture, soil temperature, and forest floor biomass during wet-dry cycles (2015 – 2022) in four Panamanian forests that vary in rainfall and soil fertility. We also surveyed all tree species and identified to species in 2018 and 2019.Results: We found that soil moisture peaked in the wet season and declined in the dry season. Measured soil CO2 fluxes declined in the dry season and peaked in the early wet season ahead of peak soil moisture, resulting in a lower soil moisture optimum for respiration than previously modeled. Forest floor biomass peaked in the dry season, in contrast. Chronic throughfall exclusion also suppressed soil moisture across the four forests to 20cm depths, and also initially suppressed soil CO2 fluxes across forests. There was sustained suppression of soil CO2 fluxes aftermore »
- Authors:
-
;
;
- Colorado State University; Colorado State University
- University of Georgia
- Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Environmental System Science Data Infrastructure for a Virtual Ecosystem; Consequences of Plant Nutrient Uptake for Soil Carbon Stabilization
- Sponsoring Org.:
- U.S. DOE > Office of Science > Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
- Subject:
- 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; EARTH SCIENCE > LAND SURFACE > SOILS; EARTH SCIENCE > LAND SURFACE > SOILS > CARBON; climatic drying; forest floor; soil carbon; soil moisture; soil organic; tropical forest
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1960044
- DOI:
- https://doi.org/10.15485/1960044
Citation Formats
Cusack, Daniela, Dietterich, Lee, and Valdes, Eric. Throughfall-Reduction Drying Effects on Forest Floor Plant Tissue Biomass (Oi+Oe soil horizons) and Moisture Content in Four Lowland Panamanian Forests. United States: N. p., 2023.
Web. doi:10.15485/1960044.
Cusack, Daniela, Dietterich, Lee, & Valdes, Eric. Throughfall-Reduction Drying Effects on Forest Floor Plant Tissue Biomass (Oi+Oe soil horizons) and Moisture Content in Four Lowland Panamanian Forests. United States. doi:https://doi.org/10.15485/1960044
Cusack, Daniela, Dietterich, Lee, and Valdes, Eric. 2023.
"Throughfall-Reduction Drying Effects on Forest Floor Plant Tissue Biomass (Oi+Oe soil horizons) and Moisture Content in Four Lowland Panamanian Forests". United States. doi:https://doi.org/10.15485/1960044. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1960044. Pub date:Sun Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 2023
@article{osti_1960044,
title = {Throughfall-Reduction Drying Effects on Forest Floor Plant Tissue Biomass (Oi+Oe soil horizons) and Moisture Content in Four Lowland Panamanian Forests},
author = {Cusack, Daniela and Dietterich, Lee and Valdes, Eric},
abstractNote = {Objectives: Climatic drying is predicted for many tropical forests, yet effects on soil properties across moisture and soil gradients within tropical forests remain poorly characterized, hampering predictions of forest-climate feedbacks. We hypothesized that drying would suppress soil CO2 fluxes (i.e., respiration) in already-drier tropical forests by further reductions in soil moisture, but increases CO2 fluxes in wetter tropical forests by alleviating anaerobiosis and soil saturation. We measured soil CO2 fluxes, soil moisture, soil temperature, and forest floor biomass during wet-dry cycles (2015 – 2022) in four Panamanian forests that vary in rainfall and soil fertility. We also surveyed all tree species and identified to species in 2018 and 2019.Results: We found that soil moisture peaked in the wet season and declined in the dry season. Measured soil CO2 fluxes declined in the dry season and peaked in the early wet season ahead of peak soil moisture, resulting in a lower soil moisture optimum for respiration than previously modeled. Forest floor biomass peaked in the dry season, in contrast. Chronic throughfall exclusion also suppressed soil moisture across the four forests to 20cm depths, and also initially suppressed soil CO2 fluxes across forests. There was sustained suppression of soil CO2 fluxes after four years in the wettest forest only (-28 ± 4% during the dry season), but elevated soil CO2 fluxes in a fertile forest after four years (+75 ± 28% during the late wet season). The unexpected negative drying effect in the wettest, most infertile forest could have resulted from reduced vertical flushing of nutrients into soils, as the drying effect increased with time. Including hydro-nutrient interactions in ecosystem models could improve predictions of tropical forest-climate feedbacks (results presented in Cusack et al. 2023). Datasets included: Datasets included here include .csv and .xls files for forest floor biomass (equivalent to the Oi+Oe soil horizons), and a subset include forest floor biomass moisture content (weight/weight) in the study plots. There is also a .kml file that includes coordinates for all 32 plots included in the study of four forests (n = 4 throughfall reduction and n = 4 control plots per site). No special software is needed to open these files.},
doi = {10.15485/1960044},
journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Sun Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 2023},
month = {Sun Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 2023}
}