Abstract

QUINTO MOSQUERA, Harley; MORENO HURTADO, Flavio; CAICEDO MORENO, Haylin Yineth  and  PEREZ LUIS, May Thelis Yineth. Fine Root Biomass and Soil Fertility in Tropical Rain Forests of the Colombian Pacific. Colomb. for. [online]. 2016, vol.19, n.1, pp.53-66. ISSN 0120-0739.  https://doi.org/10.14483/udistrital.jour.colomb.for.2016.1.a04.

Fine roots play an important role in the ecology and dynamics of tropical forests. Fine root biomass (FRB) is mainly determined by soil characteristics (availability of water and nutrients) and is higher in soils with lower fertility. To test this hypothesis five permanent 1-hectare plots were established in the towns of Opogodó and Pacurita, where FRB was measured at 0-10 and 10-20 cm depth. In addition, soil fertility parameters (pH, nutrients and texture) were measured and related to FRB. Both towns presented soils poor in nutrients, with higher content of sand, total N and organic matter (OM) in Opogodó. The BRF presented little relation to texture and soil nutrient content, because only the correlations of the BRF with pH and content of clay were significant. In both areas FRB decreased with depth; values found between 0-20 cm depths were 5.91 t ha^-1 and 6.28 t ha^-1 in Opogodó and Pacurita respectively. The tropical region-wide analysis showed an inverse relationship between the available P content and the BRF of forests.

Keywords : carbon balance; biogeographic Chocó; Opogodó; pacurita; phosphorus; plant nutrition; tropical soils.

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