Comment on "The response of vegetation on the Andean flank in western Amazonia to Pleistocene climate change"

Cárdenas et al. (Reports, 25 February 2011, p. 1055) used the presence of Podocarpus pollen and wood to infer ≥5°C cooling of Andean forests during Quaternary glacial periods. We show that (i) Podocarpus has a wide elevation range in the Neotropics, and (ii) edaphic factors cannot be discounted as a factor governing its distribution. Paleoecologists should therefore reevaluate Podocarpus as a cool-temperature proxy.     

Water balance of flooded rice paddies

Rice (Oryza sativa L., var. Labelle) was grown in 300 m² paddies of Beaumont clay soil (Typic pelludert) and subjected to two management schemes of flooded rice culture. These schemes were continuous irrigation and intermittent irrigation. Careful measurements of irrigation, precipitation, evapotranspiration, deep percolation and runoff were made, and the total water balance for the two water management schemes was calculated.The results show continuous irrigation to be very wasteful of water with slightly over 1 m of irrigation water applied to supply an evapotranspirational need of 0.5–0.6 m. The intermittent irrigation management is less wasteful but still could be improved upon. Suggestions are presented for techniques to help improve the water use efficiency and reduce runoff losses.     

Nutrient cycling within a 27-year-old Eucalyptus grandis plantation in New South Wales

A 27-year-old stand of flooded gum (Eucalyptus grandis Hill ex Maiden) in the North Coast Region of N.S.W. was assessed in relation to aboveground distribution and turnover of organic matter, nitrogen, phosphorus, calcium, magnesium and potassium. Of the 453 t ha^?1 of aboveground organic matter present, 394 t was in the tree, 42 t in the understorey and 28 t in the forest floor. The total nitrogen, phosphorus, calcium, magnesium and potassium contents of the stand were 739, 44, 1254 and 658 kg ha^?1, respectively, and the understorey contained 35%, 35%, 16%, 24% and 49% of the above-ground distribution of these nutrients respectively. Although the developing rainforest understorey comprised a relatively small portion (9.3%) of the total aboveground biomass, it played a disproportionate role in nutrient accumulation and uptake, and had an annual net accumulation of 14%, 55%, 59%, 30%, 44% and 69% of the aboveground organic matter, nitrogen, phosphorus, calcium, magnesium and potassium respectively. The net annual removal from the soil was 30, 1, 38, 5 and 31 kg ha^?1 year^?1 for nitrogen, phosphorus, calcium, magnesium and potassium, respectively. Flooded gum had very high accumulations of calcium in the bark and the effect of this in nutrient cycling is discussed. An idealised management system, to exploit and optimise the nutrient cycle of flooded gum, has been hypothesided.