Department of Forest, Soil and Environmental Sciences, College of Agricultural Sciences, São Paulo State University-UNESP, 18610-034, Botucatu, SP, Brazil; Dipartimento di Architettura, Design e Urbanistica, Università Degli Studi di Sassari, Viale Piandanna n,4, 07100, Sassari, Italy.
Department of Forest, Soil and Environmental Sciences, College of Agricultural Sciences, São Paulo State University-UNESP, 18610-034, Botucatu, SP, Brazil.
J Environ Manage. 2023 Jan 1;325(Pt B):116521. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2022.116521. Epub 2022 Oct 22.
Forests provides major ecosystem services worldwide. The Brazilian Atlantic Forest (BAF) has been dramatically devastated, with fragmentation processes jeopardizing its long-term sustainability. This study investigated the structure and successional dynamics in BAF natural regeneration along an anthroposequence characterized by increasing human disturbance histories as: secondary (SF) > disturbed (DF) > late forest (LF). We aimed to understand how and the degree to which BAF fragmentation and human disturbance affected plants, soils, and the whole soil-plant relationships and feedbacks. We investigated the natural regeneration conditions of plants (using plant classification and quali-quantitative analyses) and soil chemistry (including pH-CaCl, H + Al, C, N, Pt, cation-exchange capacity (CEC), exchangeable cations, Al, B, Cu, Fe, K, Mn, and Zn) at twelve permanent, 2000 m plots, distributed across LF, DF, and SF forests. Significant differences were determined by ANOVA. Correlation matrix (CM) and factor analysis (FA) were used for understanding correlations and feedbacks/variability among investigated parameters, respectively. Most of investigated plant and soil parameters showed significant differences (p < 0.05) between more developed plant formations (LF) vs less developed ones (SF), with differences mainly due to soil's development stage. All investigated forest formations are featured by a great influence of the soil-plant relationships and feedbacks, with a decreasing magnitude as LF → DF → SF. Thus, there is a direct, statistically recognizable impact of both "recent" as well as "ancient" human disturbance on investigated soil-plant formations. The anthropogenic influence clearly affected not only plant and soil as "separate" systems but the whole complex of interactions and feedbacks among ecosystem components. A decreasing quality in soil and plant parameters was observed as human disturbance increased. We demonstrated that BAF plant and soil require decades for their recovery after human disturbances, with complex mechanisms and behaviors in the relationships among ecosystem components. The results can be useful for managing future recovery in an ecosystem of worldwide strategic importance.
森林提供了全球主要的生态系统服务。巴西大西洋森林（BAF）遭到了严重破坏，其碎片化过程危及到其长期的可持续性。本研究调查了沿人为序列的 BAF 自然再生的结构和演替动态，人为序列特征是人类干扰历史逐渐增加，分别为：次生林（SF）>干扰林（DF）>原始林（LF）。我们旨在了解 BAF 碎片化和人类干扰如何以及在多大程度上影响植物、土壤以及整个土壤-植物关系和反馈。我们调查了植物的自然再生条件（使用植物分类和定性-定量分析）和土壤化学特性（包括 pH-CaCl、H+Al、C、N、Pt、阳离子交换量（CEC）、可交换阳离子、Al、B、Cu、Fe、K、Mn 和 Zn），在 LF、DF 和 SF 林中共分布 12 个永久的 2000m 样地。通过方差分析确定显著差异。相关矩阵（CM）和因子分析（FA）分别用于理解所研究参数之间的相关性和反馈/可变性。大多数调查的植物和土壤参数在较发达的植物群系（LF）与较不发达的植物群系（SF）之间表现出显著差异（p<0.05），差异主要是由于土壤发育阶段的原因。所有调查的森林群系都具有土壤-植物关系和反馈的重要影响，随着 LF→DF→SF 的顺序而逐渐减小。因此，最近和古代人类干扰对所研究的土壤-植物群系都有直接的、可统计识别的影响。人为影响不仅明显影响了植物和土壤作为“单独”系统，而且还影响了生态系统组成部分之间相互作用和反馈的整个复杂过程。随着人类干扰的增加，观察到土壤和植物参数的质量逐渐降低。我们证明了 BAF 植物和土壤需要几十年的时间才能从人类干扰中恢复，生态系统组成部分之间的关系具有复杂的机制和行为。这些结果对于管理具有全球战略重要性的生态系统的未来恢复具有重要意义。
