Savanna soil fertility limits growth but not survival of tropical forest tree seedlings

Abstract

Background and Aims Cerradao (Brazilian woodland savannas) and seasonally dry forests (SDF) from southeastern Brazil occur under the same climate but are remarkably distinct in species composition. The objective of this study was to evaluate the role of soil origin in the initial growth and distribution of SDF and Cerradao species. Methods We conducted a greenhouse experiment growing Cerradao and SDF tree seedlings over their soil and the soil of the contrasting vegetation type. We evaluated soil nutrient availability and seedling survivorship, growth and leaf functional traits. Results Despite the higher nutrient availability in SDF soils,soilorigindidnotaffectseedlingsurvivorship.The three SDF species demonstrated home-soil advantage, enhanced growth with increasing soil nutrient availability and had higher growth rates than Cerradao species, even on Cerradao soils. Growth of Cerradao seedlings was not higher on Cerradao soil and, overall, was not positively correlated with soil nutrient availability. Conclusions SDF species are fast-growing species while Cerradao trees tend to be slow-growing species. Although savanna soil reduces growth of forest species, our findings suggest that soil chemical attributes, alone, does not exclude the occurrence of SDF seedlings in Cerradao and vice-versa.