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Increasing calcium scarcity along Afrotropical forest succession

Marijn Bauters (UGent) , Ivan A. Janssens, Daniel Wasner, Sebastian Doetterl, Pieter Vermeir (UGent) , Marco Griepentrog, Travis W. Drake, Johan Six, Matti Barthel, Simon Baumgartner, et al.
(2022) NATURE ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION. 6(8). p.1122-1131
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Abstract
Biogeochemical analysis of a chronosequence of secondary forest succession in lowland Central Africa suggests that calcium becomes an increasingly scarce and potentially limiting resource with stand age and ecosystem calcium storage shifts from soil to woody biomass. Secondary forests constitute an increasingly important component of tropical forests worldwide. Although cycling of essential nutrients affects recovery trajectories of secondary forests, the effect of nutrient limitation on forest regrowth is poorly constrained. Here we use three lines of evidence from secondary forest succession sequences in central Africa to identify potential nutrient limitation in regrowing forests. First, we show that atmospheric phosphorus supply exceeds demand along forest succession, whereas forests rely on soil stocks to meet their base cation demands. Second, soil nutrient metrics indicate that available phosphorus increases along the succession, whereas available cations decrease. Finally, fine root, foliar and litter stoichiometry show that tissue calcium concentrations decline relative to those of nitrogen and phosphorus during succession. Taken together, these observations suggest that calcium becomes an increasingly scarce resource in central African forests during secondary succession. Furthermore, ecosystem calcium storage shifts from soil to woody biomass over succession, making it a vulnerable nutrient in the wake of land-use change scenarios that involve woody biomass export. Our results thus call for a broadened focus on elements other than nitrogen and phosphorus regarding tropical forest biogeochemical cycles and identify calcium as a scarce and potentially limiting nutrient in an increasingly disturbed and dynamic tropical forest landscape.
Keywords
TROPICAL RAIN-FOREST, PHOSPHORUS LIMITATION, SOIL, NITROGEN, BIOMASS, NUTRIENTS, DYNAMICS, DEFORESTATION, DEPOSITION, LITTERFALL

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Citation

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MLA
Bauters, Marijn, et al. “Increasing Calcium Scarcity along Afrotropical Forest Succession.” NATURE ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION, vol. 6, no. 8, 2022, pp. 1122–31, doi:10.1038/s41559-022-01810-2.
APA
Bauters, M., Janssens, I. A., Wasner, D., Doetterl, S., Vermeir, P., Griepentrog, M., … Boeckx, P. (2022). Increasing calcium scarcity along Afrotropical forest succession. NATURE ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION, 6(8), 1122–1131. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-022-01810-2
Chicago author-date
Bauters, Marijn, Ivan A. Janssens, Daniel Wasner, Sebastian Doetterl, Pieter Vermeir, Marco Griepentrog, Travis W. Drake, et al. 2022. “Increasing Calcium Scarcity along Afrotropical Forest Succession.” NATURE ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION 6 (8): 1122–31. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-022-01810-2.
Chicago author-date (all authors)
Bauters, Marijn, Ivan A. Janssens, Daniel Wasner, Sebastian Doetterl, Pieter Vermeir, Marco Griepentrog, Travis W. Drake, Johan Six, Matti Barthel, Simon Baumgartner, Kristof Van Oost, Isaac Ahanamungu Makelele, Corneille Ewango, Kris Verheyen, and Pascal Boeckx. 2022. “Increasing Calcium Scarcity along Afrotropical Forest Succession.” NATURE ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION 6 (8): 1122–1131. doi:10.1038/s41559-022-01810-2.
Vancouver
1.
Bauters M, Janssens IA, Wasner D, Doetterl S, Vermeir P, Griepentrog M, et al. Increasing calcium scarcity along Afrotropical forest succession. NATURE ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION. 2022;6(8):1122–31.
IEEE
[1]
M. Bauters et al., “Increasing calcium scarcity along Afrotropical forest succession,” NATURE ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION, vol. 6, no. 8, pp. 1122–1131, 2022.
@article{8763023,
  abstract     = {{Biogeochemical analysis of a chronosequence of secondary forest succession in lowland Central Africa suggests that calcium becomes an increasingly scarce and potentially limiting resource with stand age and ecosystem calcium storage shifts from soil to woody biomass.
Secondary forests constitute an increasingly important component of tropical forests worldwide. Although cycling of essential nutrients affects recovery trajectories of secondary forests, the effect of nutrient limitation on forest regrowth is poorly constrained. Here we use three lines of evidence from secondary forest succession sequences in central Africa to identify potential nutrient limitation in regrowing forests. First, we show that atmospheric phosphorus supply exceeds demand along forest succession, whereas forests rely on soil stocks to meet their base cation demands. Second, soil nutrient metrics indicate that available phosphorus increases along the succession, whereas available cations decrease. Finally, fine root, foliar and litter stoichiometry show that tissue calcium concentrations decline relative to those of nitrogen and phosphorus during succession. Taken together, these observations suggest that calcium becomes an increasingly scarce resource in central African forests during secondary succession. Furthermore, ecosystem calcium storage shifts from soil to woody biomass over succession, making it a vulnerable nutrient in the wake of land-use change scenarios that involve woody biomass export. Our results thus call for a broadened focus on elements other than nitrogen and phosphorus regarding tropical forest biogeochemical cycles and identify calcium as a scarce and potentially limiting nutrient in an increasingly disturbed and dynamic tropical forest landscape.}},
  author       = {{Bauters, Marijn and Janssens, Ivan A. and Wasner, Daniel and Doetterl, Sebastian and Vermeir, Pieter and Griepentrog, Marco and Drake, Travis W. and Six, Johan and Barthel, Matti and Baumgartner, Simon and Van Oost, Kristof and Ahanamungu Makelele, Isaac and Ewango, Corneille and Verheyen, Kris and Boeckx, Pascal}},
  issn         = {{2397-334X}},
  journal      = {{NATURE ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION}},
  keywords     = {{TROPICAL RAIN-FOREST,PHOSPHORUS LIMITATION,SOIL,NITROGEN,BIOMASS,NUTRIENTS,DYNAMICS,DEFORESTATION,DEPOSITION,LITTERFALL}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{8}},
  pages        = {{1122--1131}},
  title        = {{Increasing calcium scarcity along Afrotropical forest succession}},
  url          = {{http://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-022-01810-2}},
  volume       = {{6}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}
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