Abstract
The discrimination between edge effects and spatial patterns of the availability of soil nutrients exerts a great influence on measures of forest productivity and the global carbon pool. We sampled a regular grid with infill points of topsoil in a 13-ha Atlantic forest fragment and surrounding grassland in southern Brazil, and tested the influence of the underlying spatial nutrient availability and edge effects on this pattern using Generalised Additive Models. Soil phosphorus was controlled by vegetation type. Magnesium and potassium were controlled by parent material and pedogenesis, whereas calcium and soil organic matter were influenced by both processes. The depth of edge influence was estimated at 50m inside the forest and at 25m distance from the forest edge in the grassland. These continuous estimates of forest–grassland edge effects in soil nutrient availability may play a major role in determining global ecosystem functioning, as forests and landscapes become even more fragmented.
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