The Biogeochemistry of the Amazon Basin

Front Cover
Michael E. McClain, Reynaldo Victoria, Jeffrey E. Richey
Oxford University Press, 2001 M11 8 - 384 pages
With a complex assemblage of largely intact ecosystems that support the earth's greatest diversity of life, the Amazon basin is a focal point of international scientific interest. And, as development and colonization schemes transform the landscape in increasing measure, scientists from around the world are directing attention to questions of regional and global significance. Some of these qustions are: What are the fluxes of greenhouse gases across the atmospheric interface of ecosystems? How mush carbon is stored in the biomass and soils of the basin? How are elements from the land transferred to the basin's surface waters? What is the sum of elements transferred from land to ocean, and what is its marine "fate"? This book of original chapters by experts in chemical and biological oceanography, tropical agronomy and biology, and the atmospheric sciences will address these and other important questions, with the aim of synthesizing the current knowledge of biochemical processes operating within and between the various ecosystems in the Amazon basin.
 

Contents

1 The Relevance of Biogeochemistry to Amazon Development and Conservation
3
2 General Characteristics and Variability of Climate in the Amazon Basin and its Links to the Global Climate System
17
3 The Atmospheric Component of Biogeochemical Cycles in the Amazon Basin
42
4 Soil versus Biological Controls on Nutrient Cycling in Terra Firme Forests
53
5 Nutrient Cycling as a Function of Landscape and Biotic Characteristics in the Cerrados of Central Brazil
68
6 Linking Biogeochemical Cycles to Cattle Pasture Management and Sustainability in The Amazon Basin
84
7 Nutrient Considerations in the Use of Silviculture for Land Development and Rehabilitation in the Amazon
106
8 Extractive Reserves and Participatory Research as Factors in the Biogeochemistry of the Amazon Basin
122
11 Carbon Storage in Biomass and Soils
165
12 Terrestrial Inputs to Amazon Streams and Internal Biogeochemical Processing
185
13 Geoecological Controls on Elemental Fluxes in Communities of Higher Plants in Amazonian floodplains
209
14 Biogeochemistry of Amazon Floodplain Lakes and Associated Wetlands
235
15 Organic Matter and Nutrients in the Mainstem Amazon River
275
16 Trace Elements in the Mainstem Amazon River
307
Changes in Dissolved and Particulate Fluxes During RiverOcean Mixing
328
Index
359

9 The Recovery of Biomass Nutrient Stocks and DeepSoil Functions in Secondary Forests
139
10 The Interface Between Economics and Nutrient Cycling in Amazon Land Development
156

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