Biodiversity – over -fertilization in the rainforest

Tropical forests are among the most important and richest ecosystems in our planet. They also play a crucial role in regulating the global climate. But wood strike, extraction of agricultural areas, cattle breeding, raw material mining, road construction, megasta cemets and settling are shrinked worldwide. Now recent research results reveal a further threat to these tropical rainforests and savannas: the entry caused by humans of plant nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphate and potassium.

Human activities have dramatically changed natural nutrient circuits since the industrial revolution. In addition to the natural processes such as volcanic eruptions and forest fires, Winde has been transporting the plant fertilizers sprayed in agriculture for decades, the dusts released by mining such as phosphate mines and the nutrient-containing exhaust gases of the burning of fossil fuels around the globe and reach even far away forest ecosystems such as the Amazon rainforest . But what effects does this have for the forests and their variety of plants?

An international team of scientists from the University of Kaiserslautern-Landau (RPTU), the HAWK University of Applied Science and Art Hildesheim/Holzminden/Göttingen and the Hun-Ren Center for Ecological Research in Hungary has now evaluated and 59 studies have evaluated that in tropical regions were carried out worldwide. The research work published by the specialist platform »Current Forestry Reports« »Nutrient enrichment: an emerging threat to tropical forests« comes to the conclusion that the increased entry of nutrients can significantly change the productivity, structure and function of the tropical vegetation.

Competitive species benefit

Above all, the combination of nitrogen (s), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) had the significant effects and led to an increase in the growth rate of certain tree species by up to 27 percent. »NPK are basic nutrients for plant growth. However, many tropical floors are low in nutrients, and the addition of these nutrients favors rapidly growing, competitive species, which means that the composition of the forest can change, «explains main authority Daisy Cárate Tandalla from the RPTU. These additional nutrient entries could therefore lead to homogenized tropical forests with significantly reduced biodiversity. This trend threatens the stability of these ecosystems.

“These changes can reduce biodiversity in entire food chains and weaken the resilience of the forests compared to climate change,” said MitAupautor Péter Batáry from the Hun-Ren Center. A reduced biodiversity also reduces the ability of the forests to adapt to environmental advressors, which ultimately threatens their survival and functionality.

Problem also for European forests

“Although our study focused on tropical forests, this problem is not limited to remote ecosystems,” added Péter Batáry. “In the long term, similar shifts can also occur in less species -rich European and Hungarian forests.” An additional nutrient pollution could, for example, rapidly growing species such as the robinia introduced from North America and displace local, European tree species.

Ultimately, the results of the study underline that nutrient management, especially in tropical regions, according to the researchers, must urgently be given more attention: »The nutrient pollution may appear like a local problem, but it affects the global ecosystems and affects the biological Diversity, carbon storage and the general health of the planet. The tropical forests are a cornerstone of life on earth, and the preservation of their complexity and resilience is of crucial importance. «