1. Nutrients in soil solution following selective logging of a humid tropical 'terra firme' forest north of Manaus, Brazil
- Author
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Sávio José Filgueiras Ferreira, Y. Biot, Sheila M. Ross, and W. Mello Ivo
- Subjects
Hydrology ,Forest floor ,Nutrient cycle ,Environmental Engineering ,Moisture ,Agroforestry ,Logging ,General Medicine ,complex mixtures ,Geochemistry and Petrology ,Soil water ,Clearing ,Environmental Chemistry ,Interception ,Water content ,General Environmental Science ,Water Science and Technology - Abstract
Sustainable use of the Amazon forest for timber production is conditioned by the effect of logging on the system's nutrient cycling. This paper reports the results of a soil moisture and soil water chemistry monitoring campaign before and immediately after a selective logging which removed 35 m(3) wood/ha. Soil moisture was measured using tensiometers, and soil water chemistry using suction samplers in five disturbance classes: tractor tracks, clearing centres, clearing edges, forest edges and untouched forest. The results show that the soil under the tractor tracks and clearings contained more moisture than under the untouched forest. The suction samplers extracted substantially more nitrate, ammonium, calcium, magnesium and potassium from the clearing centres, the tractor tracks and the clearing edges than from the forest sites. The results are explained in terms of altered microbial activity, changes in crown interception and uptake by roots.
- Published
- 1994