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Nutrient budget of three microcatchments under tropical montane rain forest in Ecuador- Preliminary results

Abstract:

Although the montane forests in the north Andes reduce soil erosion, prevent landslides, and protect the densly populated lower slope and valley positions from flooding, they are threatened with extinction (Hamilton et al. 1995). The threat may consist of forest destruction by logging or burning or of more subtle changes in its functioning because of anthropogenic nutrient and pollutant inputs. In the temperate zone, the future direction of the development of forest ecosystems has been assessed by nutrient budgets (Matzner and Ulrich 1981; Johnson and Lindberg 1992; Likens and Bormann 1995). The much fewer nutrient budget studies on tropical rain forests frequently have focussed on the question whether nutrient cycles are tightly closed as indication of the stability of these ecosystems (Bruijnzeel 1990). Most of the studies on tropical rain forests have been conducted in the lowland and comparatively few in montane forests. Our objective was to set up a preliminary nutrient budget of a lower montane rain forest on nutrient-poor soils as indication of its stability and extent of anthropogenic disturbance.