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Phytomass structure of natural plant communities on spodosols in southern Venezuela: the Bana woodland

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Abstract

Bana, or Low Amazon Caatinga is an evergreen sclerophyllous woodland. It occurs on bleached quartz sands in the lowlands of SW Venezuela, where it occupies relatively small ‘islands’ amidst Tall Amazon Caatinga which is exclusively developed on tropaquods.

There is an outer vegetation belt about 20 m in width in which trees over 10 m in height occur (Tall Bana); its structure and floristic composition resemble Tall Amazon Caatinga. Low Bana (maximum tree height usually below 5 m) follows next. The central part is occupied by Open Bana in which even lower trees are very widely spaced.

Destructive phytomass sampling was carried out for chemical analyses in seven plots along a 150 m line across the zonation.

The total dry matter of living plants including roots of Tall Bana (30–32 kg/m2) compares rather well with 41 kg/m2 in Tall Amazon Caatinga. This is only 9–14 kg/m2 in Low Bana, and 4–6 kg/m2 in Open Bana. The average root % of total phytomass increases from 41% in Tall Bana to 63% in Low Bana, and is 88% in Open Bana. Average total dry dead above-ground phytomass (including standing trees and stumps) declines from 1 kg/m2 in Tall Bana to 0.2 kg/m2 in Open Bana. An accumulation of dead matter in Low and Open Bana, relative to the above-ground phytomass of living plants, is noted and this contrasts with the general absence of raw humus in the soil.

Eighty-two species of woody plants (dbh≥1 cm) were recorded on the total plot area (640 m2); 90% of the species are also known to occur in Tall Amazon Caatinga. The species number declines from 59 in Tall Bana to 18 in Open Bana. Mesophylls sensu strictu dominate in Tall Bana, while notophylls are dominant in Low and Open Bana. Herbaceous species are less numerous: most of them belong to the Araceae, Bromeliaceae, Orchidaceae, Droseraceae, Eriocaulaceae and Xyridaceae.

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Author notes

  1. F. Bongers & D. Engelen

    Present address: Department of Plant Ecology, University of Utrecht, Lange Nieuwstraat 106, 3512 PN, Utrecht, The Netherlands

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Geobotany, University of Nijmegen, Toernooiveld, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

    F. Bongers & D. Engelen

  2. Arbeitsgruppe Tropenökologie, Max-Planck-Institute für Limnologie, 2320, Plön, Federal Republic of Germany

    H. Klinge

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  1. F. Bongers
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Contribution to the Venezuelan MAB pilot project San Carlos de Rio Negro.

Our sincere gratitude is expressed to Mr. Juan Moreno, San Carlos de Rio Negro, for species identification and accurate phytomass harvest and sampling. Drs. Peter Grubb, Cambridge, Chris Uhl, Pennsylvania S. Univ. and Rafael Herrera, Caracas contributed much to the paper as it stands now. All laboratory work was carried out by Miss Elke Harms, Plön. The manuscript was typed by Mrs. Ingrid Ploog and Miss Inge Schmidt, also at Plön. Dr. H.-J. Krambeck, Plön kindly wrote the computer program for the calculation of leaf areas. Howard L. Clark and his wife Kate, running the project's field station at San Carlos, provided generously food items when we ran short of them. Karin Furch, Plön computed the regression presented in Figure 10. Barbara Hickel and Gerhard Schwabe, Plön identified the blue-green algae. Rafael Herrera we thank for inviting F. Bongers and D. Engelen to come to San Carlos and for providing facilities during their stay in Venezuela; and Prof. Dr. Marinus Werger for his invaluable help and for comments on the manuscript. The field work was made possible by a grant of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft to Eberhard Brünig and Hans Klinge, by a grant of the Melchior Treub Fonds and the Stichting Werkgroep Studiereizen Ontwikkelingslanden to Frans Bongers and Dries Engelen.

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Bongers, F., Engelen, D. & Klinge, H. Phytomass structure of natural plant communities on spodosols in southern Venezuela: the Bana woodland. Vegetatio 63, 13–34 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00032183

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