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Ecosystem services of regulation and support in Amazonian pioneer fronts: searching for landscape drivers

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Abstract

Landscape dynamics result from forestry and farming practices, both of which are expected to have diverse impacts on ecosystem services (ES). In this study, we investigated this general statement for regulating and supporting services via an assessment of ecosystem functions: climate regulation via carbon sequestration in soil and plant biomass, water cycle and soil erosion regulation via water infiltration in soil, and support for primary production via soil chemical quality and water storage. We tested the hypothesis that patterns of land-cover composition and structure significantly alter ES metrics at two different scales. We surveyed 54 farms in two Amazonian regions of Brazil and Colombia and assessed land-cover composition and structure from remote sensing data (farm scale) from 1990 to 2007. Simple and well-established methods were used to characterize soil and vegetation from five points in each farm (plot scale). Most ES metrics were significantly correlated with land-use (plot scale) and land-cover (farm scale) classifications; however, spatial variability in inherent soil properties, alone or in interaction with land-use or land-cover changes, contributed greatly to variability in ES metrics. Carbon stock in above-ground plant biomass and water infiltration rate decreased from forest to pasture land covers, whereas soil chemical quality and plant-available water storage capacity increased. Land-cover classifications based on structure metrics explained significantly less ES metric variation than those based on composition metrics. Land-cover composition dynamics explained 45 % (P < 0.001) of ES metric variance, 15 % by itself and 30 % in interaction with inherent soil properties. This study describes how ES evolve with landscape changes, specifying the contribution of spatial variability in the physical environment and highlighting trade-offs and synergies among ES.

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Acknowledgments

This work is dedicated to José Claudio Ribeiro da Silva and Maria do Espirito Santo da Silva, farmers at the Maçaranduba site involved in our research. Their murder on May 24th, 2011, was related to their commitment to biodiversity protection and sustainable development in Brazilian Amazonia. We are grateful to the Brazilian and Colombian farmers for allowing us to carry out our study, and to the Brazilian, Colombian and French students and technical staff who actively participated in field sampling and laboratory analysis. We thank two anonymous reviewers for valuable comments and suggestions. Michael Corson was responsible for post-editing the English. This research was funded by the French Agence Nationale de la Recherche through two Grants: ANR-06-PADD-001-011 (Agriculture Durable et Développement program) and ANR 06 BIODIV 009-01 (IFB-ANR) and by the Brazilian Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biogeochemistry and Ecology of Continental Environments (BIOEMCO) Research Unit (UMR IRD 211), Institute of Research for Development (IRD), IRD-France-Nord Research Centre, 32 Av. Henri Varagnat, 93143, Bondy Cedex, France

    Michel Grimaldi, Thierry Desjardins, Florence Dubs, Raphaël Marichal & Patrick Lavelle

  2. Climate and Land Use by Remote Sensing (COSTEL) Research Unit (UMR CNRS 6554), Rennes 2 University, Place du Recteur Henri Le Moal, 35043, Rennes Cedex, France

    Johan Oszwald

  3. UMR 5023, LEHNA, Biodiversité des Ecosystèmes Lotiques, Université Lyon 1, 69622, Villeurbanne Cedex, France

    Sylvain Dolédec

  4. International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), Cali, Colombia

    Maria del Pilar Hurtado, Edward Guevara & Patrick Lavelle

  5. Rural Federal University of Amazonia (UFRA), 66077-530, Belém, PA, Brazil

    Izildinha de Souza Miranda, Tâmara Thaiz Santana Lima, Norberto Cornejo Noronha, Mariana Nascimento Delgado Oliveira, Mário Lopes da Silva Jr. & Luiz Gonzaga Silva Costa

  6. Society Environment Territory (SET), UMR CNRS 5603, Pau & Pays Adour University (UPPA), Avenue du Doyen Poplawski, 64000, Pau, France

    Xavier Arnauld de Sartre

  7. Federal University of Pará (UFPA), 66075-900, Belém, PA, Brazil

    William Santos de Assis, Fernando Michelotti, Simão Lindoso de Souza & Iran Veiga

  8. University of Amazonia, Carrera 9B No 7-56, Florencia, Caquetá, Colombia

    Edna Castañeda, Bertha Ramirez & Gamaliel Rodriguez

  9. Center for International Agricultural Research for Development (CIRAD), Goods and Services of Tropical Forest Ecosystems (UPR B&SEF), 34398, Montpellier, France

    Valery Gond

  10. Space for Development Research Unit (ESPACE-DEV UMR), Institute of Research for Development (IRD), 34093, Montpellier, France

    Danielle Mitja

  11. Institute of Research for Development (IRD), 97323, Cayenne, French Guiana

    Max Sarrazin

  12. National University of Colombia, Carrera 32 Chapinero, Vía Candelaria, Palmira, Colombia

    Elena Velasquez & Patrick Lavelle

Authors
  1. Michel Grimaldi
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  2. Johan Oszwald
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  3. Sylvain Dolédec
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  4. Maria del Pilar Hurtado
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  5. Izildinha de Souza Miranda
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  6. Xavier Arnauld de Sartre
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  7. William Santos de Assis
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  8. Edna Castañeda
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  9. Thierry Desjardins
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  10. Florence Dubs
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  11. Edward Guevara
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  12. Valery Gond
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  13. Tâmara Thaiz Santana Lima
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  14. Raphaël Marichal
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  15. Fernando Michelotti
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  16. Danielle Mitja
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  17. Norberto Cornejo Noronha
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  18. Mariana Nascimento Delgado Oliveira
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  19. Bertha Ramirez
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  20. Gamaliel Rodriguez
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  21. Max Sarrazin
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  22. Mário Lopes da Silva Jr.
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  23. Luiz Gonzaga Silva Costa
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  24. Simão Lindoso de Souza
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  25. Iran Veiga
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  26. Elena Velasquez
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  27. Patrick Lavelle
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Correspondence to Michel Grimaldi.

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Grimaldi, M., Oszwald, J., Dolédec, S. et al. Ecosystem services of regulation and support in Amazonian pioneer fronts: searching for landscape drivers. Landscape Ecol 29, 311–328 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-013-9981-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-013-9981-y

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