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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Ames, Iowa » National Laboratory for Agriculture and The Environment » Soil, Water & Air Resources Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #384382
Research Project: Managing Carbon and Nutrients in Midwestern U.S. Agroecosystems for Enhanced Soil Health and Environmental Quality

Location: Soil, Water & Air Resources Research

Title: Tree species of wet tropical forests differ in their tissue biochemistry and effects on soil carbon dynamics

Author
item RUSSELL, ANN - Iowa State University
item MAREK, RACHEL - University Of Iowa
item Olk, Daniel - Dan

Submitted to: Dryad Digital Repository
Publication Type: Database / Dataset
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/28/2021
Publication Date: 4/28/2021
Citation: Russell, A.E., Marek, R.F., Olk, D.C. 2021. Tree species of wet tropical forests differ in their tissue biochemistry and effects on soil carbon dynamics. Dryad Digital Repository. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.fbg79cntt.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.fbg79cntt

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The data collected in this study represent multiple plant and soil analyses conducted on long-term, replicated, mono-dominant 15-yr-old plantations at La Selva Biological Station, Costa Rica. Phenol concentrations were determined through cupric oxide analyses of newly senesced tree leaves, fine tree roots, and the underlying soil for each tree species. We related these results to companion studies at this experimental site to evaluate relationships between interspecific differences in tissue biochemistry and soil properties, including carbon sequestration. The degree of decomposition of syringyl and vanillyl phenols in soil was calculated from concentration ratios of specific phenols. Statistical evaluation by multiple regression allowed identification of fine-root syringyl phenols as one of four tree or soil properties that significantly affected soil carbon levels. This trait-based approach provides a process-based understanding of how trees species influence soil carbon dynamics, and the consequences for ecosystem properties, under land-use change that involves shifts in species composition.