Plant litter dynamics in the forest-stream interface: Precipitation is a major control across tropical biomes

Riparian plant litter is a major energy source for forested streams across the world and its decomposition has repercussions on nutrient cycling, food webs and ecosystem functioning. However, we know little about plant litter dynamics in tropical streams, even though the tropics occupy 40% of the Earth's land surface. Here we investigated spatial and temporal (along a year cycle) patterns of litter inputs and storage in multiple streams of three tropical biomes in Brazil (Atlantic forest, Amazon forest and Cerrado savanna), predicting major differences among biomes in relation to temperature and precipitation regimes. Precipitation explained most of litter inputs and storage, which were generally higher in more humid biomes (litterfall: 384, 422 and 308 g m-2 y-1, storage: 55, 113 and 38 g m-2, on average in Atlantic forest, Amazon and Cerrado, respectively). Temporal dynamics varied across biomes in relation to precipitation and temperature, with uniform litter inputs but seasonal storage in Atlantic forest streams, seasonal inputs in Amazon and Cerrado streams, and aseasonal storage in Amazon streams. Our findings suggest that litter dynamics vary greatly within the tropics, but point to the major role of precipitation, which contrasts with the main influence of temperature in temperate areas. © 2017 The Author(s)

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time, and attempts to address it require a clear understanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space. While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes, vast areas of the tropics remain understudied. In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world's most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity, but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepresented in biodiversity databases. To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications may eliminate pieces of the Amazon's biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological communities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge, it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple organism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region's vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most neglected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lost

Factors controlling leaf litter breakdown in Amazonian streams

Our objective was to assess the relative importance of leaf litter quality, and the microbial and aquatic invertebrate communities involved in leaf litter breakdown in Amazonian streams. We test the hypothesis that leaf litter quality is the driving force of leaf breakdown rates, rather than the microbial or invertebrate community, independent of stream characteristics. We incubated 3 g of Eucalyptus camaldulensis (EC), Baccharis platypoda, Symphonia globulifera, Mabea speciosa (MS), and Eperua duckeana (ED) leaves in five streams for 75, 56, 46, 26, 14, or 7 days. In all of the streams, leaf litter breakdown was higher for EC and lower in ED. This result may be related to different chemical characteristics among the five studied species. We observed higher frequency of shredders in MS and stream 4, and scrapers in streams 1 and 2. The concentration of ergosterol was higher in MS and lower in EC when adenosine triphosphate differed significantly among streams. Our data indicated that leaf litter quality (chemical and structural components) is a main factor affecting leaf breakdown in Amazonian streams. © 2016, Springer International Publishing Switzerland

Effect of vegetation removal for road building on richness and composition of Odonata communities in Amazonia, Brazil

This study showed that the main impact on Odonata species of removal of riparian vegetation for road building was on community composition, since species richness remained unaltered. This result, most evident in damselflies, was probably driven by the entry of generalist species that replaced specialist species after the impact. We collected adult odonates in forested and deforested streams in the surroundings of Manaus, Amazonas, northern Brazil. We collected 380 specimens belonging to 32 odonate species. Erythrodiplax fusca andArgia sp. 1 could be used in biomonitoring programs, since they were significantly associated with deforested streams. Using odonate community composition and key species appears to be more efficient in biomonitoring programs than simply using species richness. © 2013 Worldwide Dragonfly Association

Óxidos de ferro de solos formados sobre gnaisse do Complexo Bação, Quadrilátero Ferrífero, Minas Gerais Iron oxides of soils formed on gneiss of the Bação Complex geodomain, Quadrilátero Ferrífero, Minas Gerais, Brazil

O objetivo deste trabalho foi efetuar a caracterização mineralógica dos óxidos de ferro de horizontes B de três perfis de solos desenvolvidos sobre gnaisse do geodomínio do Complexo Bação, no Quadrilátero Ferrífero, em Minas Gerais. As amostras foram coletadas ao longo dos segmentos de alta, média e baixa vertente. As frações de terra fina (diâmetro médio, fi = 2 mm) foram separadas, em todas as amostras. A composição química dos elementos maiores foi determinada por meio da técnica de fluorescência de raios X; a análise mineralógica foi realizada com difratometria de raios X e espectroscopia Mössbauer. Todas as amostras têm composição mineralógica similar, cuja ocorrência geral corresponde à seqüência quartzo >> gibbsita > caulinita > goethita. Os resultados Mössbauer a 4,2 K confirmam a coexistência de goethita (majoritária) e hematita. Os conteúdos de alumínio isomórfico foram deduzidos dos valores de campos hiperfinos e correspondem às seguintes fórmulas químicas das goethitas: alfaFe0,79Al0,21OOH (alta vertente), alfaFe0,75Al0,25OOH (meia vertente) e alfaFe0,78Al0,22OOH (baixa vertente). A dinâmica de transformação dos óxidos de ferro nos horizontes B ao longo da vertente é um indicador das oscilações paleoclimáticas na área: goethita mais aluminosa é um indicador do paleoambiente úmido, e goethita menos aluminosa revela condições pedogênicas mais secas.<br>The objective of this work was to characterize iron oxides from B-horizons of three soil profiles developing on gneiss of the Bação Complex geodomain in the Quadrilátero Ferrífero, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Samples were collected from the uppest, middle and lowest segments along the slope. The earth fine fractions (mean diameter, phi = 2 mm) were separated for all samples. The chemical composition of the major elements was determined with the X-ray fluorescence technique; the mineralogical analysis was performed with powder X-ray diffractomer and Mössbauer spectroscopy. All samples have similar mineralogical composition, with a general occurrence corresponding to the sequence quartz >> gibbsite > kaolinite > goethite. From the 4.2 K-Mössbauer results, the coexistence of goethite (major) and hematite is confirmed. The isomorphic aluminum contents, as they were deduced from the hyperfine fields, lead to the following chemical formulas for goethites: alphaFe0.79Al0.21OOH (upslope), alphaFe0.75Al0.25OOH (midslope) and alphaFe0.78Al0.22OOH (downslope). The iron oxides transformation dynamics in B horizons along the slope is a useful indicator of the paleo-climatic oscillations in this area: aluminous goethite is an indicator of humid paleo-environments, whereas aluminous-poorer goethite reveals drier pedogenic conditions

Thresholds of freshwater biodiversity in response to riparian vegetation loss in the Neotropical region

Protecting riparian vegetation around streams is vital in reducing the detrimental effects of environmental change on freshwater ecosystems and in maintaining aquatic biodiversity. Thus, identifying ecological thresholds is useful for defining regulatory limits and for guiding the management of riparian zones towards the conservation of freshwater biota. Using nationwide data on fish and invertebrates occurring in small Brazilian streams, we estimated thresholds of native vegetation loss in which there are abrupt changes in the occurrence and abundance of freshwater bioindicators and tested whether there are congruent responses among different biomes, biological groups and riparian buffer sizes. Mean thresholds of native vegetation cover loss varied widely among biomes, buffer sizes and biological groups: ranging from 0.5% to 77.4% for fish, from 2.9% to 37.0% for aquatic invertebrates and from 3.8% to 43.2% for a subset of aquatic invertebrates. Confidence intervals for thresholds were wide, but the minimum values of these intervals were lower for the smaller riparian buffers (50 and 100 m) than larger ones (200 and 500 m), indicating that land use should be kept away from the streams. Also, thresholds occurred at a lower percentage of riparian vegetation loss in the smaller buffers, and were critically lower for invertebrates: reducing only 6.5% of native vegetation cover within a 50-m riparian buffer is enough to cross thresholds for invertebrates. Synthesis and applications. The high variability in biodiversity responses to loss of native riparian vegetation suggests caution in the use of a single riparian width for conservation actions or policy definitions nationwide. The most sensitive bioindicators can be used as early warning signals of abrupt changes in freshwater biodiversity. In practice, maintaining at least 50-m wide riparian reserves on each side of streams would be more effective to protect freshwater biodiversity in Brazil. However, incentives and conservation strategies to protect even wider riparian reserves (~100 m) and also taking into consideration the regional context will promote a greater benefit. This information should be used to set conservation goals and to create complementary mechanisms and policies to protect wider riparian reserves than those currently required by the federal law