Abstract
Land-use change alters catchment hydrology by influencing the quality and quantity of partitioned rainfall. We compared rainfall partitioning (throughfall, stemflow and interception) and nutrient concentrations in rainfall, throughfall and stemflow in three land-use types [primary forest (PF), secondary forest (SF) and agriculture (A)] in Panama. Measurements of throughfall were highly variable which may have masked seasonal and land use differences but it was clear that throughfall at agricultural sites made up a larger proportion of gross precipitation than at forest sites. Of incident precipitation, 94% became throughfall in agriculture sites while 83 and 81% of gross precipitation became throughfall in PF and SF, respectively. The size of the precipitation event was the main driver of variation in throughfall and stemflow. Consistent patterns in nutrient cycling were also difficult to identify. Vegetation has a vital role in delivering nutrients as throughfall deposition of K was often larger than precipitation deposition. A canopy budget model indicated that canopy exchange was often more dominant than dry deposition. Throughfall was generally enriched with nutrients, especially K and Mg, with enrichment factors of up to 17 and 5 for K and Mg, respectively, in PF. In contrast, Ca was sometimes taken up by the canopy. Values of nutrient deposition were high (with up to 15, 3, 30 and 15 kg ha−1 month−1 in stand deposition of Ca, Mg, K and Na, respectively in PF), possibly due to the slash-and-burn agricultural practices in the area or marine inputs. Throughfall and stemflow are vital sources of nutrients in these ecosystems.
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Acknowledgments
We thank the landowners for allowing access to sites. We acknowledge the contribution of CATHALAC (Water Center for the Humid Tropics of Latin America and The Caribbean) and our field and laboratory technicians. We would also like to thank the reviewers for their valuable comments on an earlier version of the manuscript. LS was an employee of the University of Göttingen while conducting this research and acknowledges the support provided by Dirk Hölscher and his research group. This research project was funded through the grant COL07-44 from SENACYT (Secretaría Nacional de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación) in Panama. Funds from The University of Auckland School of Environment PBRF fund assisted in the completion of this manuscript.
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Macinnis-Ng, C.M.O., Flores, E.E., Müller, H. et al. Rainfall partitioning into throughfall and stemflow and associated nutrient fluxes: land use impacts in a lower montane tropical region of Panama. Biogeochemistry 111, 661–676 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-012-9709-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-012-9709-0