- Prolonged dry periods, and increasingly the generation of smoke and dust in partially-deforested regions, can influence the chemistry of rainfall and throughfall in moist tropical forests. We investigated rainfall and throughfall chemistry in a palm-rich open tropical rainforest in the southwestern Brazilian Amazon state of Rondonia, where precipitation averages 2300 mm year(-1) with a marked seasonal pattern, and where the fragmentation of remaining forest is severe. Covering the transition from dry to wet season (TDWS) and the wet season (WS) of 2004-2005, we sampled 42 rainfall events on event basis as well as 35 events on a within-event basis, and measured concentrations of DOC, Na+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+, NH4+ , Cl-, SO42- , NO3- and pH in rainfall and throughfall. We found strong evidence of both seasonal and within-event solute rainfall concentration dynamics. Seasonal volume-weighted mean (VWMS) concentrations in rainfall of DOC, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+, NH4+ , SO42- and NO3- were significantly higher in the TDWS than the WS, while VWMSProlonged dry periods, and increasingly the generation of smoke and dust in partially-deforested regions, can influence the chemistry of rainfall and throughfall in moist tropical forests. We investigated rainfall and throughfall chemistry in a palm-rich open tropical rainforest in the southwestern Brazilian Amazon state of Rondonia, where precipitation averages 2300 mm year(-1) with a marked seasonal pattern, and where the fragmentation of remaining forest is severe. Covering the transition from dry to wet season (TDWS) and the wet season (WS) of 2004-2005, we sampled 42 rainfall events on event basis as well as 35 events on a within-event basis, and measured concentrations of DOC, Na+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+, NH4+ , Cl-, SO42- , NO3- and pH in rainfall and throughfall. We found strong evidence of both seasonal and within-event solute rainfall concentration dynamics. Seasonal volume-weighted mean (VWMS) concentrations in rainfall of DOC, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+, NH4+ , SO42- and NO3- were significantly higher in the TDWS than the WS, while VWMS concentrations in throughfall were significantly higher for all solutes except DOC. Patterns were generally similar within rain events, with solute concentrations declining sharply during the first few millimeters of rainfall. Rainfall and throughfall chemistry dynamics appeared to be strongly influenced by forest and pasture burning and a regional atmosphere rich in aerosols at the end of the dry season. These seasonal and within-event patterns of rainfall and throughfall chemistry were stronger than those recorded in central Amazonia, where the dry season is less pronounced and where regional deforestation is less severe. Fragmentation and fire in Rondonia now appear to be altering the patterns in which solutes are delivered to remaining moist tropical forests.…
