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Soil erosion as a resilience drain in disturbed tropical forests

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A Correction to this article was published on 03 September 2019

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Abstract

Background

Tropical forests are threatened by intensifying natural and anthropogenic disturbance regimes. Disturbances reduce tree cover and leave the organic topsoil vulnerable to erosion processes, but when resources are still abundant forests usually recover.

Scope

Across the tropics, variation in rainfall erosivity – a measure of potential soil exposure to water erosion – indicates that soils in the wetter regions would experience high erosion rates if they were not protected by tree cover. However, twenty-first-century global land cover data reveal that in wet South America tropical tree cover is decreasing and bare soil area is increasing. Here we address the role of soil erosion in a positive feedback mechanism that may persistently alter the functioning of disturbed tropical forests.

Conclusions

Based on an extensive literature review, we propose a conceptual model in which soil erosion reinforces disturbance effects on tropical forests, reducing their resilience with time and increasing their likelihood of being trapped in an alternative vegetation state that is persistently vulnerable to erosion. We present supporting field evidence from two distinct forests in central Amazonia that have been repeatedly disturbed. Overall, the strength of the erosion feedback depends on disturbance types and regimes, as well as on local environmental conditions, such as topography, flooding, and soil fertility. As disturbances intensify in tropical landscapes, we argue that the erosion feedback may help to explain why certain forests persist in a degraded state and often undergo critical functional shifts.

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Change history

  • 03 September 2019

    In the original version of this article, the following text must be added in the acknowledgement. M.H., B.M.F. and R.S.O. acknowledge the project grant from Instituto Serrapilheira/Serra-1709–18983.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Carolina Levis and Marten Scheffer for constructive comments, and four anonymous reviewers for their criticism and suggestions that helped improve this manuscript. B.M.F. is funded by São Paulo Research Foundation Grant FAPESP 2016/25086-3.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plant Biology, University of Campinas, Campinas, SP, 13083-970, Brazil

    Bernardo M. Flores, Marina Hirota & Rafael S. Oliveira

  2. Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management Group, Wageningen University, P. O Box 47, 6700, AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    Arie Staal

  3. Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, Kräftriket 2B, 10691, Stockholm, Sweden

    Arie Staal

  4. International Institute for Sustainability - IIS Rio, Rio de Janeiro, 22460-320, Brazil

    Catarina C. Jakovac

  5. Department of Physics, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, Brazil

    Marina Hirota

  6. Resource Ecology Group, Wageningen University, P.O Box 47, 6700, AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    Milena Holmgren

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  1. Bernardo M. Flores
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  2. Arie Staal
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  3. Catarina C. Jakovac
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  4. Marina Hirota
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  6. Rafael S. Oliveira
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Correspondence to Bernardo M. Flores.

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Flores, B.M., Staal, A., Jakovac, C.C. et al. Soil erosion as a resilience drain in disturbed tropical forests. Plant Soil 450, 11–25 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-019-04097-8

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