Comparison of nonlinear models in the description of carbon mineralization in litter soil

Edilson Marcelino Silva,Joel Augusto Muniz,Tales Jesus Fernandes,Sérgio Alberto Jane,Ariana Campos Fruhauf,Édipo Menezes Da Silva

doi:10.18406/2316-1817v12n420201484

Edilson Marcelino Silva, Joel Augusto Muniz + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.18406/2316-1817v12n420201484

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Abstract

Litter is an important source of nutrients for trees and can improve the quality of degraded soils. The objective of this study was to describe the dynamics of carbon mineralization in litter soils using nonlinear models, estimating half-life times. Soil carbon mineralization under three types of forest cover was evaluated: Atlantic forest fragment (capoeira), Acacia auriculiformis trees (acacia), and Mimosa caesalpiniifolia (sabiá) from a reforested area with a history of degradation. Twelve measurements of the mineralized carbon were made up to 222 days after the beginning of the incubation of litter soils. Stanford and Smith, Juma, and Cabrera models were fitted by the least squares method using the Gauss-Newton algorithm in the R software. The Stanford and Smith model was more appropriate in describing all treatments, based on the Akaike Information Criterion, with estimates of half-life for Acácia, Capoeira, and Sabiá soils at 25, 44, and 51 days, respectively. The Stanford and Smith and Juma nonlinear models satisfactorily described the carbon mineralization of soils of all treatments.

Highlights

Forest sustainability is related to nutrient cycling in order to enhance their return to the trees, with the accumulated litter being an important source of nutrients for the trees in the forest ecosystem, because as the leaves, branches and roots are incorporated into the litter and undergo the decomposition process, they release nutrients to the soil and, are available to trees (BARRETO et al, 2010; GODINHO et al, 2014)
Planting tree species is an alternative for recovering degraded areas (NUNES et al, 2016), little is known about natural ecosystems and nutrient cycling in native forests and forest plantations in Brazil (GODINHO et al, 2014; MORAIS et al, 2017)
The knowledge of the carbon (C) mineralization dynamics in the soil is essential for the development of appropriate practices in the soil use, being indicative of the organic residues contributing to the demand of trees throughout the crop cycle (BARRETO et al, 2010; GODINHO et al, 2014)

Summary

Introduction

Forest sustainability is related to nutrient cycling in order to enhance their return to the trees, with the accumulated litter being an important source of nutrients for the trees in the forest ecosystem, because as the leaves, branches and roots are incorporated into the litter and undergo the decomposition process, they release nutrients to the soil and, are available to trees (BARRETO et al, 2010; GODINHO et al, 2014). The greater amount of organic matter and the presence of decomposing substances favor carbon mineralization at the beginning of the process, that is, the decomposition dynamics occur at decreasing rates, as the organic material is mineralized (PULROLNIK, 2009; MOREIRA; SIQUEIRA, 2006), the release of other nutrients to the soil occurs. These processes can be described by nonlinear models (PAULA et al, 2019; PEREIRA; MUNIZ; SILVA, 2005; SILVA et al, 2019a; SILVA et al, 2019b; ZEVIANI et al, 2012; OLIVEIRA et al, 2013). In processes with two phases, the use of the Cabrera model has shown a good fit (PAULA et al, 2019; SILVA et al, 2019a; SILVA et al, 2019b; ZEVIANI et al, 2012; PEREIRA et al, 2009)

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