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Stable carbon composition of vegetation and soils across an altitudinal range in the coastal Atlantic Forest of Brazil

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There was no consistent change in the δ 13 C values of leaves, trunks, litter, or soil with altitude in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil.

Abstract

Several studies have found a direct relationship between the stable carbon isotopic composition (δ13C) of plants and soils, and altitude, generally thought to be caused by greater carboxylation coupled with morphological changes in leaves at higher altitude. However, most of these studies were conducted in temperate areas of the globe with only a few in tropical areas. To fill this information gap, our main objective was to investigate the stable carbon isotopic composition of leaves, trunks, litter samples, and soil across an elevational range in the coastal Atlantic Forest of the Southeast region of Brazil. Our main hypothesis based on previous work is that the δ13C values in plants and soil, and soil turnover times will increase with elevation. Samples were taken from Restinga (0–50 m), Lowland (100–150 m), Submontane (300–500 m), and Montane (1000–1100 m) forests. The overall foliar δ13C was −32.2 ± 1.7 ‰, increasing by almost 4 ‰ in trunks (−28.4 ± 1.5 ‰), almost 2 ‰ in litter (−30.3 ± 1.0 ‰), and 4.5 ‰ in soil organic matter (−27.7 ± 0.9 ‰). There was no clear trend towards higher δ13C values at higher elevation, neither for vegetation components nor soils. There was also no clear trend for soil carbon turnover times (β), estimated by the regression between the logarithm carbon concentration and δ13C values. The only significant differences observed across the elevational range in vegetation tissues were lower foliar δ13C and higher soil δ13C in the Lowland forest stand, and higher trunk δ13C in the Submontane forest stand compared with other forest types.

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  1. Centro de Energia Nuclear na Agricultura, Av. Centenário 303, Piracicaba, SP, Brazil

    Silvia Rafaela Machado Lins, Luciana Della Coletta, Elizabethe de Campos Ravagnani, Juliana Gonçalez Gragnani, Edmar Antonio Mazzi & Luiz Antonio Martinelli

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  1. Silvia Rafaela Machado Lins
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  2. Luciana Della Coletta
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  3. Elizabethe de Campos Ravagnani
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Correspondence to Luiz Antonio Martinelli.

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Communicated by A. Geßler.

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Lins, S.R.M., Coletta, L.D., de Campos Ravagnani, E. et al. Stable carbon composition of vegetation and soils across an altitudinal range in the coastal Atlantic Forest of Brazil. Trees 30, 1315–1329 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00468-016-1368-7

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