Moist tropical forests in Amazonia and elsewhere are subjected to increasingly severe drought episodes through the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and possibly through deforestation-driven reductions in rainfall. The effects of this trend on tropical forest canopy dynamics, emissions of greenhouse gases, and other ecological functions are potentially large but poorly understood. We established a throughfall exclusion experiment in an east-central Amazon forest (Tapajo´s National Forest, Brazil) to help understand these effects.
Uptake of water by lateral roots of small trees in an Amazonian Tropical Forest
Uptake of water by lateral roots of small trees in an Amazonian Tropical Forest
A pulse chase technique was used to determine depth and breath of plant water uptake in an Amazonian evergreen forest. Two 2×2 m2 plots were irrigated with deuterated water. The deuterium pulse, measured as δD values of soil and plant sap water, was followed in the...