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Abstract

Decomposition experiments were performed in freshwater tanks using fresh leaves of four Amazonian tree species from blackwater and whitewater floodplain forests. Weight loss, loss of the major
elements, Na, K, Mg, Ca, N and P from the leaves, and release of these elements into the water were
studied during a four month period. Based on the nutrient contents of fresh multispecies leaf litter and
data on the shedding of this litter, nutrient inputs from leaves into bodies of blackwater and whitewater in the forests during flood period were calculated. The input of dissolved inorganic N, P and K
may be as great or even greater than input from river water, indicating the importance of the floodplain
forest as nutrient pump from sediments into the water.