the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Vertical profiles of leaf photosynthesis and leaf traits and soil nutrients in two tropical rainforests in French Guiana before and after a 3-year nitrogen and phosphorus addition experiment
Lore T. Verryckt
Sara Vicca
Leandro Van Langenhove
Clément Stahl
Dolores Asensio
Ifigenia Urbina
Romà Ogaya
Joan Llusià
Oriol Grau
Guille Peguero
Albert Gargallo-Garriga
Elodie A. Courtois
Olga Margalef
Miguel Portillo-Estrada
Philippe Ciais
Michael Obersteiner
Lucia Fuchslueger
Laynara F. Lugli
Pere-Roc Fernandez-Garberí
Helena Vallicrosa
Melanie Verlinden
Christian Ranits
Pieter Vermeir
Sabrina Coste
Erik Verbruggen
Laëtitia Bréchet
Jordi Sardans
Jérôme Chave
Josep Peñuelas
Ivan A. Janssens
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- Final revised paper (published on 04 Jan 2022)
- Preprint (discussion started on 13 Aug 2021)
Interactive discussion
Status: closed
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RC1: 'Comment on essd-2021-142', Kazimierz Becek, 09 Sep 2021
This is an excellent and (almost) complete dataset. However, it could be even more valuable if some data on monthly rainfall during the experiment were also available. In addition, you should use the insolation index instead of the T/S/B symbol making the description a quantitative one. Fig. 1 suggests that you have the contours representing the topography of the sites, which is needed to calculate the insolation index (see, e.g., ArcMap by ESRI for a tool to calculate the insolation).
Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2021-142-RC1 -
AC1: 'Reply on RC1', Lore Verryckt, 19 Sep 2021
We thank reviewer 1 for their positive assessment of our manuscript. We have requested and received the monthly rainfall data at both sites during the period of the experiment and will include these data in the dataset.
The B/S/T symbol indicates the topography of our plots, referring to the plots situated at the bottom of a valley, the slope or intermediate section of the elevation, and hilltops where the slope evens out. These valley bottoms and hilltops only differ maximal 20-50m in elevation over horizontal distances of 200-400m. The differences in topography result in differences in soil structure (more sandy at the bottom and more clayey at the top) and thus nutrient availability. All plots are situated in lowland tropical forests with high incoming solar radiation. It follows that the solar energy that is incident on these plots over a set period of time is similar. Therefore, we do not see the added value of the insolation index.
Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2021-142-AC1
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AC1: 'Reply on RC1', Lore Verryckt, 19 Sep 2021
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RC2: 'Comment on essd-2021-142', Anonymous Referee #2, 13 Sep 2021
This study presents a complete dataset for leaf and soil nutrient traits in two rainforests under treatments of nitrogen and phosphorus addition. This dataset can help improve our understanding of the changes of leaf and soil traits under nutrient additions in the P-limited forest ecosystems, and help improve model representations of forest carbon and nutrient cycles through providing parameters and mechanisms. The manuscript is well written. The experimental methods and dataset are described in detail. However, there are some serious deficiencies in this manuscript as described as below:
- The manuscript only presents the experiments, dataset and descriptions, but there is lack of a detailed analysis on the results (Section: Results and Analysis). Without the analysis results, the readers did not really know how the impacts of nutrient addition on leaf and nutrient traits.
- A follow-up problem is that the measured data are not showed in figures or tables in the manuscript. Some key data should put in the manuscript rather than only in the excel sheets in the data website (zenodo).
- Some additional data or discussion should be provided in this manuscript. As I know, there were some previous studies for researching the impacts of nutrient additions on forest biophysics, ecophysiology and nutrient cycles in the neighboring Amazon rainforests. A comparison or synthesis among these studies can help cross-validate or falsify the data and results in this study.
Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2021-142-RC2 -
AC2: 'Comment on essd-2021-142', Lore Verryckt, 16 Oct 2021
We thank reviewer 2 for their positive assessment of our manuscript.
We agree with the referee that we should add some figures showing the main results of the photosynthesis and soil data. We will provide these figures in the revised manuscript, and we will put the data more into context in the manuscript.
However, we do not agree with the referee's first comment, since this manuscript is a data description paper and, therefore, detailed analysis of the data are outside the scope.Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2021-142-AC2