Carbon, water and energy fluxes in Eucalyptus plantations and Savanna in Brazilian tropics

• Ano de defesa: 2018
• Autor(a) principal: Reis, Mariana Gonçalves dos
• Tipo de documento: Tese
• Tipo de acesso: Acesso aberto
• Idioma: eng
• Instituição de defesa: Universidade Federal de Viçosa
• Palavras-chave em Português: Eucalipto; Evapotranspiração; Cerrados; Água - Uso; Análise de covariância; Ciclo do carbono (Bioquímica); Balanço energético (Geofísica); Conservação de Solo e Água
• Link de acesso: http://www.locus.ufv.br/handle/123456789/20478

In Brazil the eucalyptus’s plantations area is higher than 5.7 million ha, stand out for Mato Grosso do Sul State (MS) which had led the expansion over the last five years (2011-2016). Most of these areas in MS are into a native savanna forest replaced by degraded pasture and annual crops in the past. Therefore, the effect of this land-cover change on regional carbon and water cycle remains unclear. Here, it was used the eddy covariance technique, meteorological, soil and plant measurements to explore the environmental dependence of intrinsic water- and radiation efficiencies in two different studies in Brazilian tropics: First study (1) reported a full rotation cycle (9 years) of carbon, water and energy fluxes from a clonal Eucalyptus grandis plantation. Overall the environmental variables, photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), air temperature (Tair), water vapor saturation pressure deficit (VPD), rainfall, and soil water content (SWC) followed seasonal drought and wet conditions. During the 9-years of study, the annual total rainfall ranged between 986 to 1496 mm yr -1 , with an average of 1238 mm yr -1 . Before the harvest of trees, the eucalyptus forest was a strong carbon sequestration during all years (1-8 years), the annual net ecosystem exchange (NEE) sum increased from -256 to - 1515 g C m -2 yr -1 , the annual gross primary production (GPP) sum increased from 2312 to 4059 g C m -2 yr -1 , and the annual ecosystem respiration (Reco) sum increased from 1195 to 2751 g C m -2 yr -1 . The first year after harvest of trees (including site preparation and planting of new trees), the annual sum was NEE = 883, GPP = 1248 and Reco = 2132 g C m -2 yr -1 , indicating a small carbon source for this period. Thus, the total carbon sequestration during a full rotation cycle was 78 t C ha -1 . Energy balance (Rn = LE + H +G) described typical daily patterns of sensible, latent and soil heat transfer, with maximal fluxes at solar noon. The annual total evapotranspiration (ET) ranged between 837 to 1432 mm yr -1 , with an average of 1154 mm yr -1 . Patterns in intrinsic water-use efficiency (WUE i ) and canopy conductance (g s ) during the study matched those variations in leaf area index (LAI), GPP and ET. In conclusion, our results provide an important contribution of carbon, water and energy balance in a full rotation cycle of eucalyptus plantations that can be useful to evaluate land-cover changes for this region and even in other regions of Brazil. Second study (2) the goal was to compare the differences in carbon, water and energy fluxes between a native Savanna forest (SAV) and eucalyptus plantation (EUC) during December 2012 to August 2013. The daily Tair (mean 23 °C), PAR (mean 34 mol m -2 day -1 ), and rainfall cumulative (sum 1013.5 mm) were similar among the two ecosystems. In contrast, the daily values of VPD and SWC were lower in SAV than EUC throughout the study period. The sum of NEE (-1136 g C m -2 ) for this period indicates that the ecosystem with EUC is a carbon sink, in contrast, for the SAV ecosystem the sum of NEE (256 g C m -2 ) indicated to be a carbon source ecosystem. Overall, the latent heat flux (LE) dominated the energy balances at both ecosystems, followed by sensible heat flux (H) and soil heat flux (G). The total ET at the SAV ecosystem and EUC ecosystem was estimating as 948 and 1050 mm, respectively. Leaf area index (LAI) in SAV ecosystem varied 3.8 to 1.9 m -2 m -2 , and in EUC ecosystem varied 4.7 to 3.2 m -2 m -2 , wet and dry period respectively. In summary, the savanna ecosystem was a weak carbon source from the ecosystem to atmospheric (2.5 t C ha -1 ), and the eucalyptus ecosystem was a strong carbon sink from the atmosphere to ecosystem (11 t C ha -1 ) over the study period (9 months). The results indicate that the eucalyptus plantations in savanna biome are well adapted to the environmental conditions and have a good response to variability of climate conditions. In addition, the land-cover change and land use practices from pasture to eucalyptus plantations can help or even restore the biodiversity of savanna biome