Influence of Soil Nutrients on Tree Growth in Colombian Pacific Forests

Abstract

Tree growth has great relevance in mitigating climate change. It has been suggested that, in tropical forests, growth is related to edaphic fertility. Given that the Colombian Pacific is a rainy region with nutrient-poor soils, the way in which edaphic conditions explain tree growth was evaluated. To this effect, the tree diameter growth (CDA) was determined at the level of plots, species, and ecological groups, and it was related to the physical and chemical variables of the soil. It was observed that the CDA in trees with low wood density was positively correlated with organic matter (MO), nitrogen, and sand, and it was negatively correlated with with P, silt, and clay. The Fabaceae family was positively correlated with pH, MO, nitrogen, magnesium, and sand, and negatively so with the effective cation exchange capacity (CICE), silt, clay, and aluminum. Consequently, a multiple nutritional limitation was corroborated, which highlights the fact that growth can be conditioned by abundant nutrients in the soil, not only by their limiting scarcity.