Abstract
An ecosystem containing a mixture of species that differ in phenology, morphology, and physiology might be expected to resist leaching of soil nutrients to a greater extent than one composed of a single species. We tested the effects of species identity and plant-life-form richness on nutrient leaching at a lowland tropical site where deep infiltration averages >2 m year−1. Three indigenous tree species with contrasting leafing phenologies (evergreen, dry-season deciduous, and wet-season deciduous) were grown in monoculture and together with two other life-forms with which they commonly occur in tropical forests: a palm and a giant, perennial herb. To calculate nutrient leaching over an 11-year period, concentrations of nutrients in soil water were multiplied by drainage rates estimated from a water balance. The effect of plant-life-form richness on retention differed according to tree species identity and nutrient. Nitrate retention was greater in polycultures of the dry-season deciduous tree species (mean of 7.4 kg ha−1 year−1 of NO3–N lost compared to 12.7 in monoculture), and calcium and magnesium retention were greater in polycultures of the evergreen and wet-season deciduous tree species. Complementary use of light led to intensification of soil exploitation by roots, the main agent responsible for enhanced nutrient retention in some polycultures. Other mechanisms included differences in nutrient demand among species, and avoidance of catastrophic failure due to episodic weather events or pest outbreaks. Even unrealistically simple multi-life-form mimics of tropical forest can safeguard a site’s nutrient capital if careful attention is paid to species’ characteristics and temporal changes in interspecific interactions.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aarssen LW (1997) High productivity in grassland ecosystems: effected by species diversity or productive species? Oikos 80:183–184
Arguedas M (2007) Plagas y enfermedades forestales en Costa Rica. Kurú Rev For (Costa Rica) 4:1–69
Balvanera P, Pfisterer AB, Buchmann N, He J-S, Nakashizuka T, Raffaelli D, Schmid B (2006) Quantifying the evidence for biodiversity effects on ecosystem functioning and services. Ecol Lett 9:1146–1156
Bigelow SW (2001) Evapotranspiration modelled from stands of three broad-leaved tropical trees in Costa Rica. Hydrol Process 15:2779–2796
Bigelow SW, Ewel JJ, Haggar JP (2004) Enhancing nutrient retention in tropical plantations: no short cuts. Ecol Appl 14:28–46
Booltink HWG, Bouma J, Gimenez D (1991) Suction crust infiltrometer for measuring hydraulic conductivity of unsaturated soil near saturation. Soil Sci Soc Am J 55:566–568
Cole TG, Ewel JJ (2006) Allometric equations for four valuable tropical tree species. For Ecol Manag 229:351–360
Erickson JE, Cisar JL, Snyder GH, Park DM, Williams KE (2008) Does a mixed-species landscape reduce inorganic-nitrogen leaching compared to a conventional St. Augustinegrass lawn? Crop Sci 48:1587–1594
Espino-Mesa M, Hernandez-Moreno JM (1994) Potassium selectivity in Andic soils in relation to induced acidity, sulphate status and layer silicates. Geoderma 61:191–201
Ewel JJ (1986) Designing agroecosystems for the humid tropics. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 17:245–271
Ewel JJ (2006) Species and rotation frequency influence soil nitrogen in simplified tropical plant communities. Ecol Appl 16:490–502
Ewel JJ, Mazzarino MJ (2008) Competition from below for light and nutrients shifts productivity among tropical species. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 105:18836–18841
Ewel JJ, Mazzarino MJ, Berish CW (1991) Tropical soil fertility changes under monocultures and successional communities of different structure. Ecol Appl 1:289–302
Fargione J, Tilman D (2005) Niche differences in phenology and rooting depth promote coexistence with a dominant C4 bunchgrass. Oecologia 143:598–606
Fontaine S, Delvaux B, Dufey JE, Herbillon AJ (1989) Potassium exchange behavior in Carribean volcanic ash soils under banana cultivation. Plant Soil 120:283–290
Fridley JD (2001) The influence of species diversity on ecosystem productivity: how, where, and why? Oikos 93:514–526
Gamfeldt L, Hillebrand H, Jonsson PR (2008) Multiple functions increase the importance of biodiversity for overall ecosystem functioning. Ecology 89:1223–1231
Gara RI, Allan GG, Wilkins RM, Whitmore JL (1972) Flight and host selection behaviour of the mahogany shoot borer, Hypsipyla grandella Zeller (Lepid., Phycitidae). Z Ang Ent 72:259–266
Gutiérrez-Soto MV, Ewel JJ (2008) Water use of four model tropical plant associations established in the lowlands of Costa Rica. Rev Biol Trop 56:1947–1957
Haggar JP, Ewel JJ (1995) Establishment, resource acquisition, and early productivity as determined by biomass allocation patterns of three tropical tree species. For Sci 41:689–708
Haggar JP, Ewel JJ (1997) Primary productivity and resource partitioning in model tropical ecosystems. Ecology 78:1211–1221
Hector A, Bagchi R (2007) Biodiversity and ecosystem multifunctionality. Nature 448:188–190
Hiremath AJ (2000) Photosynthetic nutrient-use efficiency in three fast-growing tropical trees with differing leaf longevities. Tree Physiol 20:937–944
Hiremath AJ, Ewel JJ (2001) Ecosystem nutrient use efficiency, productivity, and nutrient accrual in model tropical communities. Ecosystems 4:669–682
Hiremath AJ, Ewel JJ, Cole TC (2002) Nutrient use efficiency in three fast-growing tropical trees. For Sci 48:662–672
Hooper DU, Vitousek PM (1998) Effects of plant composition and diversity on nutrient cycling. Ecol Monogr 68:121–149
Hooper DU, Chapin FS III, Ewel JJ, Hector A, Inchausti P, Lavorel S, Lawton JH, Lodge DM, Loreau M, Naeem S, Schmid B, Setälä H, Symstad AJ, Vandermeer J, Wardle DA (2005) Effects of biodiversity on ecosystem functioning: a consensus of current knowledge. Ecol Monogr 75:3–35
Huston MA (1997) Hidden treatments in ecological experiments: re-evaluating the ecosystem function of biodiversity. Oecologia 110:449–460
Jones DL (1998) Organic acids in the rhizosphere—a critical review. Plant Soil 205:25–44
Kleber M, Schwendenmann L, Veldkamp E, Rossner J, Janhn R (2007) Halloysite versus gibbsite: silicon cycling as a pedogenetic process in two lowland neotropical rain forest soils of La Selva, Costa Rica. Geoderma 138:1–11
Lavorel S, Garnier E (2002) Predicting changes in community composition and ecosystem functioning from plant traits: revisiting the Holy Grail. Funct Ecol 16:545–556
Lawton JH, Brown VK (1993) Redundancy in ecosystems. In: Schulze E-D, Mooney HA (eds) Biodiversity and ecosystem function. Springer, Berlin, pp 255–270
Loescher HW, Gholz HL, Jacobs JM, Oberbauer ST (2005) Energy dynamics and modeled evapotranspiration from a wet tropical forest in Costa Rica. J Hydrol 315:274–294
Lord EI, Shepherd MA (1993) Developments in the use of porous ceramic cups for measuring nitrate leaching. J Soil Sci 44:435–449
Loreau M (1998) Biodiversity and ecosystem functioning: a mechanistic model. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 95:5632–5636
Loreau M, Hector A (2001) Partitioning selection and complementarity in biodiversity experiments. Nature 412:72–76
Mamolos AP, Elisseou GK, Veresoglou DS (1995) Depth of root activity of coexisting grassland species in relation to N and P additions, measured using nonradioactive tracers. J Ecol 83:643–652
Markewitz D, Figueiredo R, Davidson EA (2006) CO2-driven cation leaching after tropical forest clearing. J Geochem Explor 88:214–219
McKane RB, Grigal DF, Russelle MP (1990) Spatiotemporal differences in 15 N uptake and the organization of an old-field plant community. Ecology 71:1126–1132
McKane RB, Johnson LC, Shaver GR, Nadelhoffer KJ, Rastetter EB, Fry B, Giblin AE, Kiellandk K, Kwiatkowski BL, Laundre JA, Murray G (2002) Resource-based niches provide a basis for plant species diversity and dominance in arctic tundra. Nature 412:68–71
Naeem S, Thompson LJ, Lawler SP, Lawton JH, Woodfin RM (1995) Empirical evidence that declining species diversity may alter the performance of terrestrial ecosystems. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B 347:249–262
Newman MC, Dixon PM, Looney BB, Pinder JE III (1989) Estimating mean and variance for environmental studies with below detection limit observations. Water Resour Bull 25:905–916
Nieuwenhuyse A, van Breemen N (1997) Quantitative aspects of weathering and neoformation in selected Costa Rican volcanic soils. Soil Sci Soc Am J 61:1450–1458
Parfitt RL (1992) Potassium–calcium exchange in some New Zealand soils. Aust J Soil Res 30:145–158
Parker GG (1985) The effect of disturbance on water and solute budgets of hillslope tropical rainforest in northeastern Costa Rica. PhD dissertation, University of Georgia, Athens
Russell AE, Cambardella CA, Ewel JJ, Parkin TB (2004) Species, rotation, and life-form diversity effects on soil carbon in experimental tropical ecosystems. Ecol Appl 14:47–60
SAS Institute (1999) SAS OnlineDoc®, Version 8. SAS Institute, Cary
Schalscha EB, Pratt PF, de Andrade L (1975) Potassium–calcium exchange equilibria in volcanic-ash soils. Soil Sci Soc Am J 39:1069–1072
Scherer-Lorenzen M, Palmborg C, Prinz A, Schulze E-D (2003) The role of plant diversity and composition for nitrate leaching in grasslands. Ecology 84:1522–1539
Schläpfer F, Erikson JD (2001) A biotic control perspective on nitrate contamination of groundwater from agricultural production. Agric Resour Econ Rev 30:113–126
Schläpfer F, Schmid B (1999) Ecosystem effects of biodiversity—a classification of hypotheses and exploration of empirical results. Ecol Appl 9:912–983
Sollins P, Sancho MF, Mata R, Sanford RL (1994) Soils and soil process research. In: McDade LA, Bawa KS, Hespenheide HA, Hartshorn GS (eds) La Selva: ecology and history of a neotropical rain forest. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp 34–53
Stevens MHH, Carson WP (2001) Phenological complementarity, species diversity, and ecosystem function. Oikos 92:291–296
Tennant D (1975) A test of a modified line intersect method of estimating root length. J Ecol 63:995–1001
Tilman D (1988) Plant strategies and the dynamics and structure of plant communities. Princeton University Press, Princeton
Tilman D, Wedin D, Knops J (1996) Productivity and stability influenced by biodiversity in grassland ecosystems. Nature 379:718–720
Tilman D, Lehman CL, Thomson KT (1997) Plant diversity and ecosystem productivity: theoretical considerations. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 94:1857–1861
Trager MD, Bruna EM (2006) Effects of plant age, experimental nutrient addition and ant occupancy on herbivory in a neotropical myrmecophyte. J Ecol 94:1156–1163
Trenbath BR (1974) Biomass productivity of mixtures. Adv Agron 26:177–210
van den Broek BJ, Elbers JA, Huygen J, Kabat JP, Wesseling JG, van Dam JC, Feddes RA (1994) SWAP 1993 input instructions manual. Wageningen Agricultural University, Wageningen
Weitz AM, Grauel WT, Keller M, Veldkamp E (1997) Calibration of time domain reflectometry technique using undisturbed soil samples from humid tropical soils of volcanic origin. Water Resour Res 33:1241–1249
Williams MR, Melack JM (1997) Solute export from forested and partially deforested catchments in the central Amazon. Biogeochemistry 38:67–102
Yachi S, Loreau M (1999) Biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in a fluctuating environment: the insurance hypothesis. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 96:1463–1468
Zavaleta ES, Pasari JR, Hulvey KB, Tilman GD (2010) Sustaining multiple ecosystem functions in grassland communities requires higher biodiversity. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 107:1443–1446
Acknowledgments
We thank J. Baldwin for statistical advice and analyses; L. Bouman for soil characterization; G. Celis-Azofeifa for graphics; D.A. Clark for proofed and gap-filled daily solar radiation data; T. Cole for data management; K. Epps for modeling of hourly radiation and temperature data; J.P. Haggar, M. Cifuentes, A. Hiremath, J. Pérez and R. Bedoya for field and laboratory work execution and supervision; A. Weitz for soil physical parameters; Organization for Tropical Studies, Inc. for use of the field site and logistical support; and M. Busse, N. Comerford, M.J. Mazzarino, L. Schreeg, and two anonymous reviewers for constructive comments on earlier versions of the manuscript. This research was supported by the US National Science Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the US Forest Service.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Communicated by Amy Austin.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ewel, J.J., Bigelow, S.W. Tree species identity and interactions with neighbors determine nutrient leaching in model tropical forests. Oecologia 167, 1127–1140 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-011-2052-7
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-011-2052-7