**5. Final remarks**

conditions, due to topographic and climate variations. Thus, species that grow in environments with adequate light, water and nutrient availability have high productivity compared to those that develop in environments with low availability of these resources. For example, Montane Forests are less productive than Lowland Forests, since temperature reduction, increased cloudiness, lower reserves of nutrients in the soil and water saturation of the soil are factors that limit the NPP in Montane Forests [26, 53]. In addition, the Atlantic Forest located at higher altitudes is more susceptible to the action of winds, more intense thermal inversions and greater terrain slope. All these aspects, along with its solar orientation, can increase or reduce incident radiation that will affect the phytosociological structure and composition of the forest.

120 Tropical Forests - The Challenges of Maintaining Ecosystem Services while Managing the Landscape

The different types of the Atlantic Forest biome feature a distinct nutrient transfer via litter deposition. This may be linked to the different developmental stages of the forest. In each stage, the vegetation displays distinct control forms of nutrient demands through storage and

**Forest type Succession N P K Ca Mg S Reference**

**Table 2.** Nutrients transferred to the soil annually via litter deposition in different forest types in the Brazilian Atlantic

Under similar climate and soil conditions, variation in litter accumulation occurs by both the amount and the composition (contents of lignin, polyphenols and nutrients) of the material deposited, influencing decomposition speed and nutrient release [58]. In general, N and Ca are the nutrients that are most accumulated on the soil in the Atlantic Forest (**Table 3**). In forests established in weathered soils, accumulated litterfall ensures nutrient cycling. This litter, along with the soil, regulates many fundamental processes in the dynamics of ecosystems, such as

The amount of nutrients in litter deposed or accumulated varies according to the forest type and edafoclimatic conditions. Abiotic and biotic factors affect litter production, namely the vegetation type, altitude, latitude, rainfall, temperature, light incidence, relief, water availa‐ bility and soil characteristics [60]. Likewise, nutrient concentration and content in this litter vary according to the soil type, vegetation, population density, the ability of species to absorb, use and translocate nutrients before leaf senescence, as well as the percentage of leaves in

Semideciduous Seasonal Secondary 150.3 7.3 45.2 291.5 30.5 10.7 [55] Semideciduous Seasonal Secondary 172.2 8.9 67.7 216.9 27.3 13.6 [47] Semideciduous Seasonal Primary 294.2 3.2 108.3 462.2 33.9 – [48] Semideciduous Seasonal – 217.8 11.6 52.8 199.8 38.7 – [56] Deciduous Seasonal Secondary 123.2 5.1 26.4 131.6 15.6 7.1 [50] Dense Ombrophilous Secondary – 5.0 49.7 170.7 26.4 – [42] Dense Ombrophilous Secondary 123.7 14.4 4.9 – – – [57]

**kg ha−1 year−1**

redistribution in biomass [54] (**Table 2**).

primary production and nutrient release [59].

Forest.

The lessons learned with landscape change in the Atlantic Forest, especially during the last few decades, indicate the need to develop programs of environmental conservation and restoration. Environmental education and scientific research are also important to allow a sustainable management of world forests. Therefore, knowing the different factors that influence the development and maintenance of a natural forest ecosystem is necessary to prevent fragmentation of new forest areas.

Nutrient cycling is one of the fundamental processes in the functioning of forests. It helps to understand the great complexity of relationships and flows between different compartments of nutrients and carbon to manage forest ecosystems sustainably. This means that mecha‐ nisms in this ecosystem have not been thoroughly understood, hindering the proper man‐ agement of this resource. Therefore, there is the need to understand the nutrient cyclic processes in different forest ecosystems, as identified for the Atlantic Forest, where the amount of nutrients in litter deposed or accumulated varies according to the forest type and edafoclimatic conditions. Understanding these characteristics aids to adopt programs for the recovery of fragmented and degraded ecosystems specific for each forest type.
