Litter inputs and standing stocks in riparian zones and streams under secondary forest and managed and abandoned cocoa agroforestry systems

PeerJ

article

Haialla Carolina Rialli Santos Brandão¹  Camila Andrade Coqueiro Moraes²  Ana Paula Silva¹  José Francisco Gonçalves Júnior³  Renan de Souza Rezende⁴  Daniela Mariano Lopes da Silva⁵ 

[1] Programa de Pós Graduação em Desenvolvimento e Meio Ambiente, Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz;Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz;AquaRiparia/Lab. de Limnologia, Departamento de Ecologia, Universidade de Brasília;Universidade Comunitária da Região do Chapecó;Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz

关键词: Riparian vegetation;    Cocoa;    Tropical streams;    Litterfall;    Agroforestry system;   

DOI  :  10.7717/peerj.13787

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Inra

【 摘 要 】

Background Cocoa is an important tropical tree crop that is mainly cultivated in agroforestry systems (AFS). This system, known as cabruca in northeastern Brazil, holds promise to reconcile biodiversity conservation and economic development. However, since cocoa AFS alters forest structure composition, it can affect litter dynamics in riparian zones and streams. Thus, our objective was to determine litter inputs and standing stocks in riparian zones and streams under three types of forest: managed cocoa AFS, abandoned cocoa AFS, and secondary forest. Methods We determined terrestrial litter fall (TI), vertical (VI) and lateral (LI) litter inputs to streams, and litter standing stocks on streambeds (BS) in the Atlantic Forest of northeastern Brazil. Litter was collected every 30 days from August 2018 to July 2019 using custom-made traps. The litter was dried, separated into four fractions (leaves, branches, reproductive organs, and miscellaneous material) and weighed. Results Terrestrial litter fall was similar in all forests, ranging from 89 g m−2 month−1 in secondary forest (SF) to 96 g m−2 month−1 in abandoned cocoa AFS (AC). Vertical input were higher in AC (82 g m−2 month−1) and MC (69 g m−2 month−1) than in SF (40 g m−2 month−1), whereas lateral input were higher in MC (43 g m−2 month−1) than in AC (15 g m−2 month−1) and SF (24 g m−2 month−1 MC, corresponding to 425, 299 and 152 g m−2. Leaves contributed most to all litter fractions in all forests. Reproductive plant parts accounted for a larger proportion in managed AFS. Branches and miscellaneous litter were also similar in all forests, except for higher benthic standing stocks of miscellaneous litter in the SF. Despite differences in the amounts of litter inputs and standing stocks among the forests, seasonal patterns in the abandoned AFS (AC) were more similar to those of the secondary forest (SF) than the managed AFS, suggesting potential of abandoned AFS to restore litter dynamics resembling those of secondary forests.

【 授权许可】

CC BY