Tropical Forests Can Suffer from a Serious Deficiency of Calcium after Logging

All harvesting of biomass results in a loss of plant nutrients from the soil. The impact of this loss on forest productivity can be determined only if the total amounts of plant nutrients in logs, other biomass and soil are known. In investigations of tropical rainforest ecosystems the total analysi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ambio 2000-09, Vol.29 (6), p.310-313
Main Author: Nykvist, Nils
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agrology
Alluvial soils
Calcium
Forest ecosystems
Forest soils
Mineral soils
Soil ecology
Soil nutrients
Tropical rain forests
Tropical soils
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Summary:All harvesting of biomass results in a loss of plant nutrients from the soil. The impact of this loss on forest productivity can be determined only if the total amounts of plant nutrients in logs, other biomass and soil are known. In investigations of tropical rainforest ecosystems the total analysis of calcium is common with regard to logs and other biomass, whereas for soils only the content of exchangeable calcium has been determined. This study, involving a calcium-poor bedrock area in Sabah, Malaysia, shows that the contents of total calcium in the soil can be estimated from figures of exchangeable calcium. In the state of Sabah, these estimated amounts were lower in 19 out of 115 soil profiles compared with the amount measured at our research area at Mendolong in Sabah where a sustainable forestry is not possible with the present rotation period without compensating for the harvest-related loss of calcium.
ISSN:0044-7447
1654-7209
DOI:10.1579/0044-7447-29.6.310