Nutrient storage in soil and biomass of native Brazilian Cerrado

The removal or burning of the biomass which frequently includes main roots results in significant nutrient losses from the Brazilian savanna, the Cerr ado. To estimate these losses, we quantified above- and belowground plant b iomass and total nutrient storage in biomass and soil of a typical Cerrado. Dominant tree species in the layer > 2 in were Pouteria torta (MART.) RADL K., Ouratea spectabilis (MART.) ENGL., Roupala montana AUBL., Byrsonima coc colobifolia H.B. et K., Dalbergia miscolobium BENTH, Kielmeyera coriacea MA RT., and Caryocar brasiliense CAMBESS. which together represented 70 % of t he biomass of the > 2 m layer. In the 0.5-2 in tree layer, many different s pecies were found of which Ouratea hexasperma (ST.-HIL.) BAILL. representin g 33 % of the biomass in the 0.5-2 in layer was most abundant. The dominant shrub species were Miconia holosericea DC., Hortia brasiliana VAND. ex DC. , Myrcia rostrata DC., Parinari obtusifolia HOOK. f., and Campomanesia velu tina BLUME, contributing 93 % to the total shrub biomass. Total aboveground plant biomass was 22.7 Mg ha(-1), total belowground plant biomass was 30.4 Mg ha(-1). The tree layer > 2 m comprised the largest proportion of the ab oveground biomass (64.6 %) > grass/herb (13.0 %) > shrub layer (11.6 %) > t ree layer 0.5-2 m (10.8 %), Three quarters of the fine root biomass (17.6 M g ha(-1)) were located in the upper 0.3 in of the soil. The element storage s (in kg ha(-1)) were C: 10900, N: 173 N, P: 20, K: 51, Ca: 66, Mg: 20, S: 25, Fe: 10, Mn: 4.2, Zn: 0.35, and Al: 27 in the aboveground biomass. C: 12 900, N: 214 N, P: 14, K: 41, Ca: 52, Mg: 10, S: 33, Fe: 2060, Mn: 2.9, Zn: 0.60, and Al: 648 in the belowground biomass, and C: 55400, N: 3510 N, P: 6 31, K: 366, Ca: 86, Mg: 75, S: 529, Fe: 159000, Mn: 124, Zn: 49, and Al: 43 4000 in the soil (0-0.3 in). If the above- and belowground biomass was comp letely removed from the Cerrado ecosystem losses would range from 5 % of th e total nutrient storage for P to 58 % for Ca referred to a lower ecosystem boundary at 0.3 in mineral soil depth.