Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
2.6.3
SYNCHRONY IN THE LITTER SYSTEM
It is generally believed that 'natural grasslands and forests are nutritionally conservative
in the sense that nutrients losses are minimal (see also Section I V.1.5.1). The small loss-
es that do occur are balanced by equivalent inputs from the weathering of soil parent
materials, from atmospheric deposition or, in the case of nitrogen, from fixation' (Myers
et al.,
1994). This was illustrated above (Section IV.2.4.2) by the retention of almost all
of the Ca and P applied to the surface of an Amazonian spodosol within the thick litter:
