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Fine Wood Decomposition Rates Decline with the Age of Tropical Successional Forests in Southern Mexico: Implications to Ecosystem Carbon Storage

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Abstract

Wood decomposition in tropical forests is strongly linked to the terrestrial carbon cycle. Our understanding of the successional changes in wood decomposition in diverse tropical forests is still limited. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that fine wood decomposition rates decline with the increasing age of successional forests due to the interspecific variation in wood density and changes in species composition. We studied fine wood decomposition in a chronosequence of tropical forests representing four successional phases in southern Mexico. Wood segments (1–7.5 cm diameter) from 30 dominant species (wood density range 0.34–0.83 g cm−3) were left on the ground for decomposition, and samples were recollected at different time intervals for three years. We used a modified negative exponential model by introducing the power parameter (p) that allowed for a time-dependent decomposition rate (k). Average k within a successional phase ranged from 0.22 to 0.39 yr−1 and declined gradually with the increase in forest age. We found a significant negative correlation between wood density and decomposition rate constants. The kspecies ranged from 0.07 to 1.11 yr−1, whereas p-parameters varied between 0.65 and 1.42. Trees such as Bursera simaruba, and Cascabela gaumeri decomposed faster, while Eugenia ibarrae, and Pouteria reticulata decomposed slower. Average fine woody debris inputs ranged from 1.2 to 3.7 Mg ha−1 yr−1 which increased with forest age. Increasing production and declining decomposition rates during succession contribute to the higher accumulation of deadwood in primary forests. The results on generalized, age- and species-specific wood decay parameters have important implications in simulating carbon dynamics of the changing tropical forests.

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Acknowledgements

Mexican National Council for Science and Technology (CONACyT) provided the scholarship funding (#316709) to the first author. BDJ received financial assistance from US Forest Service through the federal grant number 12-IJ-11242306-054. DRA received additional funding from the Science, Technology and Innovation Institute (ICTI) of the state government of Chiapas, Mexico (SEI 2020/268). We are thankful to the landowners from Calakmul who allowed us to collect wood pieces and establish experimental plots on their land. Regular collection and drying of wood samples in the field were done by Antonio Ramirez, Demetrio Alvarez, and Armando Velazquez. We are thankful to Doña Lucia and Doña Juanita for their kind cooperation in arranging logistics during fieldwork. We also thank Victoria Hernández, Beatriz Peña, Hugo Ruiz, Gabriel Chan, and Sarai Sánchez for laboratory assistance. We acknowledge the valuable comments from anonymous reviewers and editors on the earlier versions of the manuscript that highly strengthened this document.

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Author notes

  1. D.R.A. contributed to research concepts, design, fieldwork, laboratory work, data analysis, and manuscript writing. B.D.J. contributed to research concepts, design, data analysis, and manuscript writing. S.O.G., J.M.V., L.E.O. contributed to research design, manuscript writing and revision. S.L.C. contributed to manuscript writing and revision.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Facultad de Ciencias Agronómicas, Cátedra CONACyT, Universidad Autónoma de Chiapas, Carr. Ocozocoautla—Villaflores km. 84.5, 30470, Villaflores, Chiapas, México

    Deb Raj Aryal

  2. El Colegio de La Frontera Sur, Av. Rancho Polígono 2-A, Ciudad Industrial, 24500, Lerma, Campeche, México

    Deb Raj Aryal, Bernardus H. J. De Jong, Susana Ochoa Gaona, Jorge Mendoza Vega & Ligia Esparza Olguín

  3. Facultad de Ciencias Agronómicas, Universidad Autónoma de Chiapas, 30470, Villaflores, Chiapas, México

    Susana López Cruz

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  1. Deb Raj Aryal
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  2. Bernardus H. J. De Jong
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Correspondence to Deb Raj Aryal.

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Aryal, D., De Jong, B.H.J., Gaona, S.O. et al. Fine Wood Decomposition Rates Decline with the Age of Tropical Successional Forests in Southern Mexico: Implications to Ecosystem Carbon Storage. Ecosystems 25, 661–677 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-021-00678-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-021-00678-w

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