%0 Journal Article
%T Does spatial distribution of tree size account for spatial variation in soil respiration in a tropical forest?
%A Bréchet, L.
%A Ponton, S.
%A Alméras, T.
%A Bonal, D.
%A Epron, D.
%J Plant and Soil
%D 2011
%V 347
%N 1
%@ 0032079x (Issn)
%F Brechet_etal2011
%O Export Date: 21 October 2011; Source: Scopus; Coden: Plsoa; doi: 10.1007/s11104-011-0848-1; Language of Original Document: English; Correspondence Address: Bréchet, L.; INRA, UMR Ecologie des Forêts de Guyane, Campus Agronomique, BP 709, 97387 Kourou cedex, French Guiana; email: laetitiabrechet@yahoo.fr
%O exported from refbase (http://php.ecofog.gf/refbase/show.php?record=345), last updated on Fri, 21 Oct 2011 11:01:51 -0300
%X We explored the relationship between soil processes, estimated through soil respiration (Rsoil), and the spatial variation in forest structure, assessed through the distribution of tree size, in order to understand the determinism of spatial variations in Rsoil in a tropical forest. The influence of tree size was examined using an index (Ic) calculated for each tree as a function of (1) the trunk cross section area and (2) the distance from the measurement point. We investigated the relationships between Ic and litterfall, root mass and Rsoil, respectively. Strong significant relationships were found between Ic and both litterfall and root mass. Rsoil showed a large range of variations over the 1-ha experimental plot, from 1. 5 to 12. 6 gC m-2 d-1. The best relationship between Ic and Rsoil only explained 17% of the spatial variation in Rsoil. These results support the assumption that local spatial patterns in litter production and root mass depend on tree distribution in tropical forests. Our study also emphasizes the modest contribution of tree size distribution-which is mainly influenced by the presence of the biggest trees (among the large range size of the inventoried trees greater than 10 cm diameter at 1. 30 m above ground level or at 0. 5 m above the buttresses)-in explaining spatial variations in Rsoil. © 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
%K Forest structure
%K Litterfall
%K Root mass
%K Soil respiration
%K Spatial variation
%K Tropical forest
%K aboveground production
%K forest inventory
%K range size
%K size distribution
%K spatial distribution
%K stand dynamics
%U http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-80052771714&partnerID=40&md5=76e5c065f1af64a1de732d4b179537cf
%P 293-303