Abstract

CASTELLANOS BARLIZA, JEINER  and  LEON PELAEZ, JUAN DIEGO. Litterfall and Nutrient Dynamics in Acacia mangium (Mimosaceae)Forest Plantations of Antioquia, Colombia. Acta biol.Colomb. [online]. 2010, vol.15, n.2, pp.289-308. ISSN 0120-548X.

Fine litter production, nutrient return, nutrient resorption, and nutrient use efficiency were studied during one year in Acacia mangium forest plantations in mining gold degraded soils at the Bajo Cauca region of Colombia. Annual fine litter production was estimated at 10.4 Mg ha^-1 and it was dominated by the leaf fraction (54%), followed by the reproduc-tive material (24%) and to a lesser proportion by other debris (6%) and other species leaves (1.5%). The highest organic matter and nutrients returns were found on sites classified as high quality. Soil plowing realized previous Acacia mangium planting, did not show any significant effect on organic matter and nutrients returns. A. mangium leaf litter had a high N concentration and consequently, given the high leaf litter production values, it was found a high N return. By the opposite, leaf litter P content and P returns via litter fall were very low. The high values found for P retranslocation and P use efficiency indexes showed that P was the most limiting nutrient for the species. The high values of fine litter production and nutrient return via leaf litter indicate that A. mangium has a great capacity for degraded areas reclamation, as of the restoration of the biogeochemical cycles.

Keywords : Acacia mangium; litter production; nutrient return; Nutrient resorption; nutrient dynamics; nutrient use efficiency.

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