Spatial patterns of biomass and aboveground net primary productivity in a mangrove ecosystem in the Dominican Republic

The objective of this study was to quantify spatial patterns in above- and belowground biomass, pri-mary productivity, and growth efficiency along atidal gradient in a 4700-ha mangrove forest in the Dominican Republic. We tested the hypothesis that spatial patterns of forest structure and growth fol-lowing 50 years of development were associated with variations in the soil environment across the tidal gradient. Twenty-three plots were monitored from 1994 to 1998. Aboveground biomass and biomass accumulation were estimated by applying al-lometric regression equations derived from dimen-sion analysis of trees harvested at our study site.Soil porewater salinity ranged from 5 to 38 kg1 across the tidal gradient, and most measurements of forest biomass and productivity were inversely related to salinity. Mean standing biomass (23316.0 Mgha1; range, 123.5–383.5), biomass in-crement (9.71.0 Mgha1y1; range, 3.7–18.1),annual litterfall rates (11.4 Mg ha-1 y -1; range,10.2–12.8), leaf area index (LAI) (4.4 m2m2;range, 2.9 –5.6), aboveground net primary produc-tivity (ANPP) (19.7 Mgha1y1; range, 15.6 –25.0), and growth efficiency (1.60.2 kg ha1y1;range, 1.0 –3.6) all showed an inverse linear rela-tionship with salinity. Fine-root biomass (2 mm)(9.71.2 Mg ha-1; range, 2.7–13.8) showed a weak tendency to increase with salinity, and the ratio of root to aboveground biomass increased strongly with salinity. Our results suggest that phys-iological stresses associated with salinity, or with some combination of salinity and other covarying soil factors, control forest structure and growth along the tidal gradient. The higher allocation of carbon to belowground resources in more salinesites apparently contributed to reductions in ANPP along the tidal gradient.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	118529 Sherman, Ruth E. Cornell University, Department of Natural Resources, New York, USA, 66258 Fahey, Timothy J. (autor/a) Cornell University, Department of Natural Resources, New York, USA, 90794 Martinez, Pedro (autor/a) Instituto Nacional de Recursos Hidraulicos, PROMASIR, Santo Domingo, República Dominicana
Format:	Texto biblioteca
Language:	spa
Subjects:	ECOSISTEMA, MANGLES, BIOMASA, ESTIMACION, CRECIMIENTO, PRODUCTIVIDAD PRIMARIA, SALINIDAD DEL SUELO, ALOMETRIA, MODELOS DE REGRESION, ECUACIONES ALOMETRICAS, BIOMASA AEREA, AGRICULTURA,
Online Access:	https://www.jstor.org/stable/3659037
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