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Spatial variation in vegetation structure coupled to plant available water determined by two-dimensional soil resistivity profiling in a Brazilian savanna

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Abstract

Tropical savannas commonly exhibit large spatial heterogeneity in vegetation structure. Fine-scale patterns of soil moisture, particularly in the deeper soil layers, have not been well investigated as factors possibly influencing vegetation patterns in savannas. Here we investigate the role of soil water availability and heterogeneity related to vegetation structure in an area of the Brazilian savanna (Cerrado). Our objective was to determine whether horizontal spatial variations of soil water are coupled with patterns of vegetation structure across tens of meters. We applied a novel methodological approach to convert soil electrical resistivity measurements along three 275-m transects to volumetric water content and then to estimates of plant available water (PAW). Structural attributes of the woody vegetation, including plant position, height, basal circumference, crown dimensions, and leaf area index, were surveyed within twenty-two 100-m2 plots along the same transects, where no obvious vegetation gradients had been apparent. Spatial heterogeneity was evaluated through measurements of spatial autocorrelation in both PAW and vegetation structure. Comparisons with null models suggest that plants were randomly distributed over the transect with the greatest mean PAW and lowest PAW heterogeneity, and clustered in the driest and most heterogeneous transect. Plant density was positively related with PAW in the top 4 m of soil. The density-dependent vegetation attributes that are related to plot biomass, such as sum of tree heights per plot, exhibited spatial variation patterns that were remarkably similar to spatial variation of PAW in the top 4 m of soil. For PAW below 4 m depth, mean vegetation attributes, such as mean height, were negatively correlated with PAW, suggesting greater water uptake from the deep soil by plants of larger stature. These results are consistent with PAW heterogeneity being an important structuring factor in the plant distribution at the scale of tens of meters in this ecosystem.

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Acknowledgements

The A. W. Mellon Foundation provided financial support for this effort. CNPq provided a fellowship to the first author. The efforts of E. A. Davidson and M. Bustamante were also partially supported by NASA grant NNG06GD51G as part of the LCLUC program. D. C. Garcia-Montiel was supported by the PVE/Capes program. We are grateful to Carlos Klink and Liliane Bezerra for providing the TDR data and infrastructure. We thank Dr Euzebio M. da Silva of EMBRAPA Cerrados for analyses of water retention curves and for assistance with data interpretation. We thank Frederick Meinzer, Andy Bunn, and Moacyr Dias-Filho whose comments helped to improve this paper. Discussions with Mario Fariñas, supported by IAI project CNR 40, contributed greatly in an early stage of the analysis. Luiz Solórzano provided support during the initial phase of this research. We are grateful to Pedro Simpson-Junior, Danielle Matias, Cesar Luiz Prado, Marcos Soares, Elisa Brusi and Moara Pedrosa for valuable field assistance. We also thank the administration of Estação Ecológica de Águas Emendadas and the Programa de Pós-graduação em Ecologia of the University of Brasília for logistic support.

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  1. Joice N. Ferreira

    Present address: Embrapa Amazônia Oriental, Caixa Postal 48, Belém, Pará, 66017-970, Brazil

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology, University of Brasília, Campus Universitario Darcy Ribeiro, Brasília, DF, Brazil

    Joice N. Ferreira, Mercedes Bustamante & Diana C. Garcia-Montiel

  2. Woods Hole Research Center, 149 Woods Hole Road, Falmouth, MA, 02540-1644, USA

    Diana C. Garcia-Montiel & Eric A. Davidson

  3. Department of Geography, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA

    Kelly K. Caylor

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  1. Joice N. Ferreira
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Correspondence to Joice N. Ferreira.

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Communicated by Todd Dawson.

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Ferreira, J.N., Bustamante, M., Garcia-Montiel, D.C. et al. Spatial variation in vegetation structure coupled to plant available water determined by two-dimensional soil resistivity profiling in a Brazilian savanna. Oecologia 153, 417–430 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-007-0747-6

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