Seasonal variation of nutrient resorption in nine canopy trees of a Costa Rican rainforest

Withdrawal of nutrients at the time of leaf abscission (nutrient resorption) is a nutrient conserving mechanism that could play an important role in stand-level nutrient economy. Currently data on nutrient resorption in wet tropical forests and how this process varies temporally are sparse.  We evaluated the N and P resorption efficiencies of nine rain forest canopy tree species in both wet and dry season months for a two-year period.  In addition, we measured short-term (bi-weekly) variation in nutrient resorption in the two dominant tree species, Pentaclethra macroloba and Laetia procera, over a four-month period. We hypothesized that nutrient resorption would be more efficient during the dry season months and that resorption would be low during periods of high rainfall. Contrary to expectations, P resorption efficiency was higher in the wet season for four of the nine canopy tree species, while N resorption did not differ seasonally. The low dry season P resorption efficiency found in this study may be the result of drought stress during short periods of low rainfall, leading to incomplete nutrient resorption from senescing leaves. Nutrient resorption also varied significantly over the short-term. Both P and N resorption efficiency increased in P. macroloba and L. procera as the wet season progressed. The variability in resorption was not related to rainfall or temperature.  Instead, the senesced leaf concentrations were a simple proportion of green leaf nutrient concentrations, with short punctuated periods of high resorption efficiency that may be reflective of species-specific phenological events, such as fruit and leaf production. The different timing of the seasonal increase in nutrient resorption between L. procera and P. macroloba supports this hypothesis, deserving of further study.