title: Integrating stand and soil properties to understand foliar nutrient dynamics during forest succession following slash-and-burn agriculture in the Bolivian Amazon.
abstract: Secondary forests cover large areas of the tropics and play an important role in the global carbon cycle. During secondary forest succession, simultaneous changes occur among stand structural attributes, soil properties, and species composition. Most studies classify tree species into categories based on their regeneration requirements. We use a high-resolution secondary forest chronosequence to assign trees to a continuous gradient in species successional status assigned according to their distribution across the chronosequence. Species successional status, not stand age or differences in stand structure or soil properties, was found to be the best predictor of leaf trait variation. Foliar δ(13)C had a significant positive relationship with species successional status, indicating changes in foliar physiology related to growth and competitive strategy, but was not correlated with stand age, whereas soil δ(13)C dynamics were largely constrained by plant species composition. Foliar δ(15)N had a significant negative correlation with both stand age and species successional status, - most likely resulting from a large initial biomass-burning enrichment in soil (15)N and (13)C and not closure of the nitrogen cycle. Foliar %C was neither correlated with stand age nor species successional status but was found to display significant phylogenetic signal. Results from this study are relevant to understanding the dynamics of tree species growth and competition during forest succession and highlight possibilities of, and potentially confounding signals affecting, the utility of leaf traits to understand community and species dynamics during secondary forest succession.
authors: Department of Global Ecology, Carnegie Institution for Science, Stanford, California, United States of America ; Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, California, United States of America ; Sustainability Science Program, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America.
authors: Eben N
authors: EN
authors: Broadbent
authors: Department of Global Ecology, Carnegie Institution for Science, Stanford, California, United States of America ; Sustainability Science Program, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America ; Department of Anthropology, Stanford University, Stanford, California, United States of America.
authors: Angélica M
authors: AM
authors: Almeyda Zambrano
authors: Department of Global Ecology, Carnegie Institution for Science, Stanford, California, United States of America.
authors: Gregory P
authors: GP
authors: Asner
authors: Instituto Boliviano de Investigación Forestal, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia.
authors: Marlene
authors: M
authors: Soriano
authors: Department of Global Ecology, Carnegie Institution for Science, Stanford, California, United States of America ; Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, California, United States of America.
authors: Christopher B
authors: CB
authors: Field
authors: Centro de Investigación y Preservación de la Amazonia, Universidad Amazónica de Pando, Cobija, Bolivia.
authors: Harrison Ramos
authors: HR
authors: de Souza
authors: Instituto Boliviano de Investigación Forestal, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia ; Forest Ecology and Forest Management Group, Wageningen University, Wageningen, the Netherlands.
authors: Marielos
authors: M
authors: Peña-Claros
authors: Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, California, United States of America.
authors: Rachel I
authors: RI
authors: Adams
authors: Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, California, United States of America.
authors: Rodolfo
authors: R
authors: Dirzo
authors: Department of Global Ecology, Carnegie Institution for Science, Stanford, California, United States of America.
authors: Larry
authors: L
authors: Giles
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture; D018533:Biomass; D001838:Bolivia; D002244:Carbon / Q000378:metabolism; D017753:Ecosystem; D065928:Forests; D012987:Soil
chemical_list: D012987:Soil; D002244:Carbon