Meteorological effects of a cold spell event over Amazonia: a case study

Observations of the influence of a Cold Spell phenomena on meteorological variables and on energy and CO2 fluxes were made in a forest site near Ji-Paraná, Rondonia, during June 2001. Friagem caused a diminution of 35% at air temperature. A reduction of 75 W.m-2 from normal days (200 W.m-2) to cold days (125 W.m-2) in the mean incoming solar radiation was also observed. During the Cold Spell days, both sensible heat (H) and latent heat fluxes (LE) showed a decrease in their mean daily value, showing a difference from normal days of 8 e 34%, respectively. The CO2 concentration remained constant, without increase during the night, due to the windy condition of cold days. During normal days the mean diurnal CO2 flux (-2,44 mmol m-2 s-1) was lesser than that one at phenomena days (-5,78 mmol m-2 s-1), while the mean nocturnal fluxes were +1,77mmol m-2 s-1 e +2,83mmol m-2 s-1 during normal and cold days, respectively.A influência do fenômeno da friagem nas variáveis meteorológicas e nos fluxos de energia e CO2 , foi realizada numa área de floresta próxima à região de Ji-Paraná, Rondônia, durante o mês de junho de 2001. A friagem ocasionou uma diminuição de 35% no valor da temperatura do ar. Notou-se uma redução de 75 W.m-2, na radiação solar incidente, associada à nebulosidade presente em decorrência da penetração da massa de ar fria. Conseqüentemente, tanto o fluxo de calor sensível (H) quanto o de calor latente (LE), apresentaram uma diminuição no seu valor médio diário, apresentando uma diferença em relação aos dias normais de 8 e 34%, respectivamente. A concentração de CO2 permaneceu constante, sem apresentar o aumento comum durante a noite, devido à condição de vento forte típica da friagem. Em situação normal o fluxo médio durante o dia de CO2 (-2,44 mmol m-2 s-1) foi menor que durante os dias de friagem (-5,78 mmol m-2 s-1); enquanto que os fluxos médios noturnos foram +1,77mmol m-2 s-1 e +2,83mmol m-2 s-1 durante situações de dias normais e de friagem, respectivamente.ROCHA, E. J. P. Universidade Federal do Par

VARIACIÓN ESTACIONAL Y EFECTO DEL FUEGO EN LA RESPIRACIÓN DEL SUELO EN BOSQUES DE LA AMAZONIA DEL PERÚ

Los bosques de la Amazonia juegan un rol clave en mitigar el incremento de CO en la atmósfera 2 debido a que es un importante sumidero del CO , siendo los suelos parte fundamental de la 2 dinámica del C mediante la “respiración del suelo”. Este trabajo tuvo como objetivo conocer sobre estos procesos en los bosques de la Amazonia del Perú y mejorar la información sobre las emisiones de CO del suelo a la atmósfera, en términos de la respiración del suelo. Una detallada 2 evaluación de la variación estacional (época seca y húmeda) fue desarrollada y adicionalmente se evalúo el efecto del fuego. Con el fin de responder preguntas como: 1) ¿Cuan importante es la variación estacional para la respiración de suelo en los bosques primario y secundario?, 2) ¿Es la respiración del suelo diferente entre ecosistemas?, 3) ¿Cual es el efecto del fuego en la respiración del suelo?. El estudio se realizó en dos bosques primarios y un secundario de Oxapampa (departamento de Pasco), Manu (departamento de Madre de Dios) y Satipo (departamento de Junín), Perú. El efecto de la estacionalidad no fue significativo en la estación de Oxapampa, mientras que lo contrario sucedió en Satipo. Esto podría explicarse por el diferente contenido de agua en el suelo y la cobertura boscosa. Los efectos del fuego han podido ser cuantificados a corto (h) y a mediano (días) plazo, notándose un severo efecto en la respiración del suelo, registrándose el valor mínimo de solo 40 mg CO ·m-2·h-1, cuando en promedio para este 2 bosque primario es cerca de 850 mg CO ·m-2·h-1. Así mismo su retorno a niveles “normales” 2 sucedió solo dos días después. Es importante aumentar el tiempo del monitoreo (meses) para mejorar el entendimiento de los procesos que controlan la respiración del suelo en la amazonia del Perú, y de la actividad microbiana del suelo

Ecological research in the Large Scale Biosphere Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia: A discussion of early results

The Large-scale Biosphere–Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia (LBA) is a multinational, interdisciplinary research program led by Brazil. Ecological studies in LBA focus on how tropical forest conversion, regrowth, and selective logging influence carbon storage, nutrient dynamics, trace gas fluxes, and the prospect for sustainable land use in the Amazon region. Early results from ecological studies within LBA emphasize the variability within the vast Amazon region and the profound effects that land-use and land-cover changes are having on that landscape. The predominant land cover of the Amazon region is evergreen forest; nonetheless, LBA studies have observed strong seasonal patterns in gross primary production, ecosystem respiration, and net ecosystem exchange, as well as phenology and tree growth. The seasonal patterns vary spatially and interannually and evidence suggests that these patterns are driven not only by variations in weather but also by innate biological rhythms of the forest species. Rapid rates of deforestation have marked the forests of the Amazon region over the past three decades. Evidence from ground-based surveys and remote sensing show that substantial areas of forest are being degraded by logging activities and through the collapse of forest edges. Because forest edges and logged forests are susceptible to fire, positive feedback cycles of forest degradation may be initiated by land-use-change events. LBA studies indicate that cleared lands in the Amazon, once released from cultivation or pasture usage, regenerate biomass rapidly. However, the pace of biomass accumulation is dependent upon past land use and the depletion of nutrients by unsustainable land-management practices. The challenge for ongoing research within LBA is to integrate the recognition of diverse patterns and processes into general models for prediction of regional ecosystem function

Widespread reduction in sun-induced fluorescence from the Amazon during the 2015/2016 El Nino

The tropical carbon balance dominates year-to-year variations in the CO2 exchange with the atmosphere through photosynthesis, respiration and fires. Because of its high correlation with gross primary productivity (GPP), observations of sun-induced fluorescence (SIF) are of great interest. We developed a new remotely sensed SIF product with improved signal-to-noise in the tropics, and use it here to quantify the impact of the 2015/2016 El Nino Amazon drought. We find that SIF was strongly suppressed over areas with anomalously high temperatures and decreased levels of water in the soil. SIF went below its climatological range starting from the end of the 2015 dry season (October) and returned to normal levels by February 2016 when atmospheric conditions returned to normal, but well before the end of anomalously low precipitation that persisted through June 2016. Impacts were not uniform across the Amazon basin, with the eastern part experiencing much larger (10-15%) SIF reductions than the western part of the basin (2-5%). We estimate the integrated loss of GPP relative to eight previous years to be 0.34-0.48 PgC in the three-month period October-November-December 2015. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'The impact of the 2015/2016 El Nino on the terrestrial tropical carbon cycle: patterns, mechanisms and implications'

Changes in leaf functional traits with leaf age: when do leaves decrease their photosynthetic capacity in Amazonian trees?

Most leaf functional trait studies in the Amazon basin do not consider ontogenetic variations (leaf age), which may influence ecosystem productivity throughout the year. When leaf age is taken into account, it is generally considered discontinuous, and leaves are classified into age categories based on qualitative observations. Here, we quantified age-dependent changes in leaf functional traits such as the maximum carboxylation rate of ribulose-1,5-biphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco) (Vcmax), stomatal control (Cgs%), leaf dry mass per area and leaf macronutrient concentrations for nine naturally growing Amazon tropical trees with variable phenological strategies. Leaf ages were assessed by monthly censuses of branch-level leaf demography; we also performed leaf trait measurements accounting for leaf chronological age based on days elapsed since the first inclusion in the leaf demography, not predetermined age classes. At the tree community scale, a nonlinear relationship between Vcmax and leaf age existed: young, developing leaves showed the lowest mean photosynthetic capacity, increasing to a maximum at 45 days and then decreasing gradually with age in both continuous and categorical age group analyses. Maturation times among species and phenological habits differed substantially, from 8 ± 30 to 238 ± 30 days, and the rate of decline of Vcmax varied from −0.003 to −0.065 μmol CO2 m−2 s−1 day−1. Stomatal control increased significantly in young leaves but remained constant after peaking. Mass-based phosphorus and potassium concentrations displayed negative relationships with leaf age, whereas nitrogen did not vary temporally. Differences in life strategies, leaf nutrient concentrations and phenological types, not the leaf age effect alone, may thus be important factors for understanding observed photosynthesis seasonality in Amazonian forests. Furthermore, assigning leaf age categories in diverse tree communities may not be the recommended method for studying carbon uptake seasonality in the Amazon, since the relationship between Vcmax and leaf age could not be confirmed for all trees

Quantifying the effect of forest age in annual net forest carbon balance

Forests dominate carbon (C) exchanges between the terrestrial biosphere and the atmosphere on land. In the long term, the net carbon flux between forests and the atmosphere has been significantly impacted by changes in forest cover area and structure due to ecological disturbances and management activities. Current empirical approaches for estimating net ecosystem productivity (NEP) rarely consider forest age as a predictor, which represents variation in physiological processes that can respond differently to environmental drivers, and regrowth following disturbance. Here, we conduct an observational synthesis to empirically determine to what extent climate, soil properties, nitrogen deposition, forest age and management influence the spatial and interannual variability of forest NEP across 126 forest eddy-covariance flux sites worldwide. The empirical models explained up to 62% and 71% of spatio-temporal and across-site variability of annual NEP, respectively. An investigation of model structures revealed that forest age was a dominant factor of NEP spatio-temporal variability in both space and time at the global scale as compared to abiotic factors, such as nutrient availability, soil characteristics and climate. These findings emphasize the importance of forest age in quantifying spatio-temporal variation in NEP using empirical approaches