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Soil fertility of cohune palm (Attalea cohune) dominant forests compared to non-cohune forests in northwestern Belize

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Abstract

Aims

We studied how soils vary between cohune palm and non-cohune forests and assessed whether the forests differed in soil fertility.

Methods

We sampled soil profiles from six cohune palm forests and eleven non-cohune forests. Our laboratory analyses included soil organic matter (SOM), extractable phosphorous, and the total concentration of 10 elements. Each soil characteristic was subjected to a mixed-effects model with depth, forest type, and the interaction between the two as factors that were grouped by excavation.

Results

Total phosphorous, sulfur, and SOM differed significantly between the two forest types, with higher values in non-cohune forests, on average. SOM, extractable phosphorous, and nine elements showed statistically significant changes with depth. The interaction between depth and forest type was significant for eight elements and SOM. The elemental concentrations were consistently maintained with depth in the cohune forests. Meanwhile, the elemental concentrations in non-cohune forest soils decreased with depth for all elements except calcium and magnesium, which increased concentration with depth.

Conclusions

Cohune forest soils and non-cohune forest soils differ in distinct ways but these differences do not relate to key measures of soil fertility. Cohune palm forest soils exhibit consistent elemental concentrations with depth, which suggests bioturbation or another phenomenon that redistributes nutrients.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by a Conference of Latin Americanist Geographers field grant, a Robert E. Veselka Field Research Grant, and the C.B. Smith, Sr. Centennial Chair. SE completed this work while on a National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship. We thank the Institute of Archaeology and the Programme for Belize Archaeological Project, especially Fred Valdez, for permission to carry out this research. We would also like to thank the Beach-Butzer lab members at the University of Texas at Austin for soil analysis assistance, especially Samantha Krause and Erica McCormick. Thanks to Sheryl Luzzadder-Beach, Nicholas Brokaw, Timothy Fahey, and three reviewers who provided helpful comments on this manuscript.

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  1. Department of Geography and the Environment, University of Texas at Austin, 305 E 23rd St, Austin, TX, 78712, USA

    Sara Eshleman & Timothy Beach

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  1. Sara Eshleman
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Correspondence to Sara Eshleman.

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Eshleman, S., Beach, T. Soil fertility of cohune palm (Attalea cohune) dominant forests compared to non-cohune forests in northwestern Belize. Plant Soil 452, 295–311 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-020-04575-4

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