Effects of Land Use Change and Seasonality of Precipitation on Soil Nitrogen in a Dry Tropical Forest Area in the Western Llanos of Venezuela

Autor: Ana Francisca González-Pedraza, Nelda Dezzeo
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2014
Předmět:
Zdroj: The Scientific World Journal, Vol 2014 (2014)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 2356-6140
1537-744X
DOI: 10.1155/2014/514204
Popis: We evaluated changes of different soil nitrogen forms (total N, available ammonium and nitrate, total N in microbial biomass, and soil N mineralization) after conversion of semideciduous dry tropical forest in 5- and 18-year-old pastures (YP and OP, resp.) in the western Llanos of Venezuela. This evaluation was made at early rainy season, at end rainy season, and during dry season. With few exceptions, no significant differences were detected in the total N in the three study sites. Compared to forest soils, YP showed ammonium losses from 4.2 to 62.9% and nitrate losses from 20.0 to 77.8%, depending on the season of the year. In OP, the ammonium content increased from 50.0 to 69.0% at the end of the rainy season and decreased during the dry season between 25.0 and 55.5%, whereas the nitrate content increased significantly at early rainy season. The net mineralization and the potentially mineralizable N were significantly higher P
Databáze: Directory of Open Access Journals
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