Nodulation and dinitrogen fixation of legume trees in a tropical freshwater swamp forest in French Guiana

Abstract

Nodulated legume trees comprised 43% of the stand basal area in the low, most frequently flooded microsites, and 23% in higher, drier microsites in a tropical freshwater swamp forest in French Guiana. Dinitrogen fixation in Pterocarpus officinalis , Hydrochorea corymbosa and Inga pilosula was confirmed by acetylene reduction assay (ARA), presence of leghaemoglobin in nodules and the 15 N natural abundance method. The results for Zygia cataractae were inconclusive but suggested N 2 fixation in drier microsites. Nodulated Inga disticha had a 15 N-to- 14 N ratio similar to non-N 2 -fixing trees, but ARA indicated nitrogenase activity and leghaemoglobin was present in nodules. All bacterial strains were identified as Bradyrhizobium spp. according to the partial 16S rDNA sequences, and they were infective in vitro in the model species Macroptilium atropurpureum . About 35-50% of N in the leaves of P. officinalis , H. corymbosa and I. pilosula was fixed from the atmosphere. Dinitrogen fixation was estimated to contribute at least 8-13% and 17-28% to whole-canopy N in high and low microsites, respectively. Symbiotic N 2 fixation appears to provide both a competitive advantage to legume trees under N-limited, flooded conditions and an important N input to neotropical freshwater swamp forests.