THE IMPORTANCE OF NUTRIENT PULSES IN TROPICAL FORESTS

Recent research shows that nutrient fluxes are often pulsed in tropica l forests, and that pulsed versus gradual inputs have different effect s on the fates of nutrients in the ecosystem. Synchrony of nutrient mi neralization with plant uptake can lower competition between microbes and plants for limiting nutrients while maintaining tight nutrient cyc ling, whereas asynchrony can lead to losses of nutrients from the syst em. Thus, nutrient pulses may play a critical role in maintaining prod uctivity in tropical forests with tight nutrient cycling.