Basin-wide variations in Amazon forest structure and function are mediated by both soils and climate

Abstract. Forest structure and dynamics vary across the Amazon Basin in an east-west gradient coincident with variations in soil fertility and geology. This has resulted in the hypothesis that soil fertility may play an important role in explaining Basin-wide variations in forest biomass, growth and stem turnover rates. Soil samples were collected in a total of 59 different forest plots across the Amazon Basin and analysed for exchangeable cations, carbon, nitrogen and pH, with several phosphorus fractions of likely different plant availability also quantified. Physical properties were additionally examined and an index of soil physical quality developed. Bivariate relationships of soil and climatic properties…

• GA
  Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
• UO
  University of Leeds
• EC
  European Commission
• IN
  Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia
• FF
  Fifth Framework Programme