Litterfall dynamics and soil carbon and nitrogen stocks in the Brazilian palm swamp ecosystems

Forest Ecosystems

Table 3 Soil of C and N contents and C/N ratio within Palm swamps and in the Cerrado surrounding palm swamps in the Southeast of Brazil

Layer (cm)	Agua Doce (AD)		Capivara (CV)		Buriti Grosso (BG)
Layer (cm)	Palm swamp	Cerrado	Palm swamp	Cerrado	Palm swamp	Cerrado
C (g·kg⁻¹)
0–10	4.20 bA	3.94 bA	14.94 aA	9.27 aB	11.4 aA	7.24 abB
10–20	2.75 bA	3.31 bA	6.16 aA	3.57 bB	6.11 aA	4.36 aB
20–30	2.69 bA	3.23 aA	2.04 bB	3.01 aA	6.49 aA	2.49 bB
30–50	2.40 bA	3.22 aA	1.61 bB	2.71 abA	7.53 aA	1.72 bB
50–75	1.47 bB	2.91 aA	2.15 bA	1.82 bA	7.85 aA	1.94 bB
75–100	1.52 bB	2.89 aA	3.08 bA	3.07 aA	8.19 aA	2.05 bB
N (g·kg⁻¹)
0–10	0.39 bA	0.35bA	0.92 aA	0.60 aB	0.58 abA	0.66 aA
10–20	0.84 aA	0.28 bB	0.49 bA	0.33 bB	0.66 abA	0.40 aB
20–30	0.28 bB	0.36 aA	0.18 bB	0.25 aA	0.69 aA	0.24 aB
30–50	0.25 abA	0.28 aA	0.16 bA	0.18 bA	0.67 aA	0.20 bB
50–75	0.15 bB	0.34 aA	0.21 bA	0.14 bB	0.62 aA	0.15 bB
75–100	0.18 bB	0.26 aA	0.18 bB	0.23 abA	0.63 aA	0.16 bB
C/N Ratio
0–10	11.0 cB	13.7 bA	17.3 aA	15.8 aB	14.3 bA	11.5 bB
10–20	12.8 aA	11.8 abB	13.7 aA	12.4 aA	9.12 bB	11.6 bA
20–30	10.75 bA	10.1 bA	11.1 bB	13.8 aA	12.2 aA	11.4 bA
30–50	10.1bA	10.4 bA	15.8 aB	18.2 aA	12.7 abA	9.25 bB
50–75	12.8 aA	11.7 bA	11.1 bB	19.8 aA	13.7 aA	13.4 bA
75–100	10.7 bA	10.7 bA	18.4 aA	10.5 bB	14.1 abA	14.2 aA

Legend: The mean values followed by the same letters (lowercase among the three Palm swamps or Cerrado areas, and uppercase for the same ecosystem between Palm swamps and Cerrado) did not differ statistically by the Tukey Test (p < 0.05)