doctoralThesis
Efeitos da precipitação e da exposição à radiação solar na decomposição da serrapilheira em um ecossistema no semiárido brasileiro
Fecha
2016-08-31Registro en:
COSTA, Uirandé Oliveira. Efeitos da precipitação e da exposição à radiação solar na decomposição da serrapilheira em um ecossistema no semiárido brasileiro. 2016. 98f. Tese (Doutorado em Ecologia) - Centro de Biociências, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, 2016.
Autor
Costa, Uirandé Oliveira
Resumen
The aim of this thesis is to understand the role of solar radiation and precipitation, as
well as the effect of reducing this, on the decomposition of litter in an ecosystem in the Brazilian
semiarid region. The study was conducted between the years 2013 and 2015 in a fragment of
the Caatinga in the municipality of João Câmara, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil, through a set of
three manipulative field experiments. It had demonstrated that the photodegradation and its
indirect effects affected the decomposition process, providing alone, 24% of the weight loss
and plays a similar role to that of precipitation (26%). We observed an additive role of solar
radiation and the precipitation in the control of annual litter decomposition rates. Reductions in
the levels of rainfall proved to be responsible for generating negative impacts on litter
decomposition rates of up to 41.2% in the tested scenarios. It remains proven that, in the study
area, the process of decomposition of leaf litter is not structured only by a biological process,
but also by abiotic photodegradation. Finally, the results of this thesis warn of possible collapse
of the litter decomposition process due to possible reductions in rainfall which may undermine
the functioning of this ecosystem.