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Abstract
Background: The slopes of the eastern Andes harbour some of the highest biodiversity on Earth and a high proportion of endemic species. However, there have been only a few and limited descriptions of carbon budgets in tropical montane forest regions.
Aims: We present the first comprehensive data on the production, allocation and cycling of carbon for two high elevation (ca. 3000 m) tropical montane cloud forest plots in the Kosñipata Valley, Peruvian Andes.
Methods: We measured the main components and seasonal variation of net primary productivity (NPP), autotrophic (R a) and heterotrophic (R h) respiration to estimate gross primary productivity (GPP) and carbon use efficiency (CUE) in two 1-ha plots.
Results: NPP for the two plots was estimated to be 7.05 ± 0.39 and 8.04 ± 0.47 Mg C ha−1 year−1, GPP to be 22.33 ± 2.23 and 26.82 ± 2.97 Mg C ha−1 year−1 and CUE was 0.32 ± 0.04 and 0.30 ± 0.04.
Conclusions: We found strong seasonality in NPP and moderate seasonality of R a, suggesting that forest NPP is driven by changes in photosynthesis and highlighting the importance of variation in solar radiation. Our findings imply that trees invest more in biomass production in the cooler season with lower solar radiation and more in maintenance during the warmer and high solar radiation period.
Acknowledgements
This work is a product of the RAINFOR and ABERG research consortia, and embedded within the GEM (Global Ecosystems 720 Monitoring) network of research sites. It was funded by grants from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to the Amazon Forest Inventory Work (RAINFOR) and the Andes Biodiversity and Ecosystems Research Group (ABERG), and a grant to YM and PM from the UK Natural Environment Research Council 725 (Grant NE/D014174/1). YM is supported by the Jackson Foundation and the Oxford Martin School. We thank the Cock of the Rock Lodge at San Pedro, and Sr. Demetrio, for logistical support with this work, and INRENA for permits to conduct research in Peru.