Abstract: Key message: The natural durability of Dicorynia guianensis Amsh’s Heartwood is conferred by the high content of antioxidant phenolic compounds, especially tannins and flavonoids combined with the presence of fungistatic alkaloids. The content of phenolic compounds increases according to the natural durability classes, from durable wood (class 2) to moderately durable wood (class 3) and correlated to the antioxidant capacity.
Context: The heartwood of Dicorynia guianensis Amsh is resistant to white rot fungi decay, but the mechanism of this natural durability is not fully elucidated.
Aims: Biochemical studies were carried out in order to better understand the role of extractives in natural durability of D. guianensis.
Methods: The powders from durable and moderately durable heartwood were extracted with methanol, ethanol, and hot water. The quantity of total phenols, tannins, and flavonoids as well as antioxidant activity, evaluated by 2,2′-azino-bis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) were determined using colorimetric methods. Antifungal activity was assessed by using two white rot fungi. The bioactive fractions and compounds were obtained using bio-guided fractionation, HPLC isolation, MS and RMN spectroscopic analyses.
Results: Durable woods contain higher amounts of heartwood extract and antioxidant activity. Antioxidant activity was highly correlated with the content of phenolics. The purification of the most antioxidant fraction FII affords the characterization of (+)-catechin (−)-epicatechin, neoastilbin, astilbin, and isoastilbin. Alkaloid fraction FIII exhibits dose-dependent fungistatic activity against Pycnoporus sanguineus Linnaeus and Trametes versicolor Quelet.
Conclusion: Phenolic antioxidants and fungistatic alkaloids positively impact the natural durability of D. guianensis.

Abstract: The patterns of the distribution of fungal species and their potential interactions with trees remain understudied in Neotropical rainforests, which harbor more than 16,000 tree species, mostly dominated by endomycorrhizal trees. Our hypothesis was that tree species shape the non-mycorrhizal fungal assemblages in soil and litter and that the diversity of fungal communities in these two compartments is partly dependent on the coverage of trees in the Neotropical rainforest. In French Guiana, a long-term plantation and a natural forest were selected to test this hypothesis. Fungal ITS1 regions were sequenced from soil and litter samples from within the vicinity of tree species. A broad range of fungal taxa was found, with 42 orders and 14 classes. Significant spatial heterogeneity in the fungal communities was found without strong variation in the species richness and evenness among the tree plots. However, tree species shaped the fungal assemblages in the soil and litter, explaining up to 18 % of the variation among the communities in the natural forest. These results demonstrate that vegetation cover has an important effect on the structure of fungal assemblages inhabiting the soil and litter in Amazonian forests, illustrating the relative impact of deterministic processes on fungal community structures in these highly diverse ecosystems. © 2016, Springer Science+Business Media New York.

Abstract: Coarse woody debris (CWD, dead wood sections ≥10 cm diameter) represents a large store of carbon in tropical forests; however, estimates of the flux of carbon from CWD in these forests remain poorly constrained. The objective of this study was to resolve the dry/wet season response of respiration in CWD (Rcwd), and investigate the importance of biotic and abiotic factors for predicting the seasonal change of Rcwd at the ecosystem level. This study presents a 4-month time series of Rcwd measurements conducted on 42 dead trees (26 species) at the Paracou Research Station in French Guiana. Rcwd measurements were repeated 13 times on each CWD sample from July to November 2011, spanning the transition from wet to dry season, and then from dry season to the following wet season. Seasonal drought caused monthly Rcwd to drop by 20.5 ± 5.1% over the wet-dry transition. Changes in woody tissue moisture content explained 41.9% of the measured seasonal variability in Rcwd, but 60% of the seasonal variability in mean forest Rcwd rates could be modelled using surface soil water content. We estimate that Rcwd is approximately 5% of annual ecosystem respiration (Reco) and that seasonal variations in Rcwd contribute appreciably to seasonal variations of Reco, and should be included in functional models simulating the response of tropical rainforest ecosystems to current and future climate. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York.

Abstract: The important fertilizing role of atmospheric dust, and particularly African dust, in tropical rainforests is increasingly recognized but still poorly quantified. To better evaluate dust input into the Caribbean basin, we sampled critical zone compartments of a small forested volcanic catchment in Guadeloupe (soils, parent rock, atmospheric dust, plants, soil solutions, stream and rain waters). The aims of this study are to track sources of cation nutrients (Ca, Mg, K, Sr) developed on highly weathered soil in the rainforest of Guadeloupe, to quantify plant recycling of these nutrients, and to identify constraints on regolith development and its associated nutrient pool. In the Quiock Creek catchment, a large isotopic range of 87Sr/86Sr and eNd values was observed despite the small scale of observation. Sr isotopic composition of the dissolved load varied from 0.7084 in rainfall to 0.7110 in soil solution, whereas it ranges between 0.7068 and 0.7153 for soil samples and between 0.7096 and 0.7102 for plants. The Nd isotopic composition varied between -8.39 in near-surface soil samples to 2.71 in deeper soil. All samples had an intermediate signature between that of the bedrock endmember (87Sr/86Sr = 0.7038; eNd = 4.8) and the atmospheric endmember (sea salt: 87Sr/86Sr = 0.7092 and Saharan dust: 87Sr/86Sr = 0.7187, eNd=-11.5). The regolith was built on pyroclastic deposits, but, because of extreme leaching, the regolith has lost its original bedrock signature and inherited an exogenous atmospheric signature. Our results show that only the chemical weathering of the fresh near-surface minerals can provide nutrients to the ecosystem (first 30 cm). However, this dust weathering is too low to sustain the tropical forest ecosystem on its own. The cationic mass balance at the catchment scale, as well as the Sr isotopic signature, show that cation and Sr fluxes are of atmospheric origin only and that original bedrock no longer participates in nutrient cycles. The vegetation reflects the 87Sr/86Sr of the dissolved pool of atmospheric Sr. At the soil-plant scale, the cation-nutrient fluxes provided by vegetation (litter fall + leaf excretion) are major compared to input and output fluxes. The annual Ca, K, Sr and Mg fluxes within the vegetation are, respectively, 31, 28, 20 and 3 times greater than the exported fluxes at the outlet of the basin. The residence time of nutrients in the vegetation is 16 years for K and close to 45 years for Sr, Ca and Mg. These results emphasize the highly efficient vegetative turnover that dominates the nutrient cycle in the Quiock Creek catchment. This first characterization of biogeochemical cycles in the Guadeloupean rainforest suggests that the forest community of Quiock Creek is sustained by a small near-surface nutrient pool disconnected from the deep volcanic bedrock. We also demonstrated that, even with efficient nutrient recycling, Saharan dust plays a significant role in maintaining ecosystem productivity in Guadeloupe over long-time scales.

Abstract: In French Guiana, the population growth will result in an increase in demand for agricultural products and thus, will lead to an increase in the amount of tropical forests converted into cropland or pasture. Impacts of different agricultural systems on greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes have not been studied in French Guiana. In this context, the fire-free chop-and-mulch method was used to convert a tropical forest site to agriculture. This study focused on soil nitrous oxide (N<inf>2</inf>O) emissions and we compared four land uses: (1) the undisturbed tropical forest, (2) recently converted grassland and recently converted croplands (fertilized soybean/maize rotation) with either (3) disk tillage or (4) no tillage.N<inf>2</inf>O measurements were obtained through the chamber technique and conducted over a 1-year period (measurements began 19 months after the forest was cleared). N<inf>2</inf>O fluxes were related to soil parameters measured at each sampling date: nitrate and ammonium contents, gravimetric water content (GWC) and temperature. Through the entire period, the mean (± standard error) and median N<inf>2</inf>O fluxes were 3.8 ± 0.5 and 2.7 gNha-1day-1, respectively for undisturbed tropical forest and 2.4 ± 0.9 and 0.8gNha-1day-1, respectively for grassland (mowed Brachiaria ruziziensis). For croplands, no significant difference was found for N<inf>2</inf>O emissions between both agricultural practices. The mean (± standard error) and median N<inf>2</inf>O fluxes were 8.5 ± 1.2 and 4.0 gNha-1day-1, respectively for disk tillage plots and 8.5 ± 1.3 and 3.6gNha-1day-1, respectively for no tillage plots. Nitrogen inputs (due to the application of fertilizer or due to the mineralization of crop residues) led to higher N<inf>2</inf>O fluxes, resulting in significantly higher mean N<inf>2</inf>O emissions from croplands compared to the forest, when only considering land use effect on N<inf>2</inf>O fluxes in a statistical model. The soil nitrate content, GWC and temperature had a significant positive effect on N<inf>2</inf>O fluxes. Taking into account these soil parameters in another statistical model, N<inf>2</inf>O emissions from croplands were not higher than the natural N<inf>2</inf>O emissions from tropical forest soils. Our results suggest that, if more forest will have to be converted in the course of the expected population growth in French Guiana, it could have low impact on the soil N<inf>2</inf>O fluxes (similar to natural fluxes from forest) with the improving of farming techniques (for example modification of the splitting of N-fertilizer) in the cropping plots. © 2015 Elsevier B.V.