Particulate macronutrient exports from tropical African montane catchments point to the impoverishment of agricultural soils

Stenfert Kroese, Jaqueline; Quinton, John N.; Jacobs, Suzanne R.; Breuer, Lutz; Rufino, Mariana C.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-7-53-2021

Articles | Volume 7, issue 1

https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-7-53-2021

© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Special issue:

Tropical biogeochemistry of soils in the Congo Basin and the...

https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-7-53-2021

© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 7, issue 1

Original research article

|

15 Mar 2021

Original research article |

| 15 Mar 2021

Particulate macronutrient exports from tropical African montane catchments point to the impoverishment of agricultural soils

Jaqueline Stenfert Kroese, John N. Quinton, Suzanne R. Jacobs, Lutz Breuer, and Mariana C. Rufino

Data sets

Macronutrient (TC, TN and TP) concentrations and time series of rainfall, discharge and suspended sediment concentrations of 2018 and 2019 J. Stenfert Kroese https://doi.org/10.17635/lancaster/researchdata/387

Short summary

Particulate macronutrient concentrations were up to 3-fold higher in a natural forest catchment compared to fertilized agricultural catchments. Although the particulate macronutrient concentrations were lower in the smallholder agriculture catchment, because of higher sediment loads from that catchment, the total particulate macronutrient loads were higher. Land management practices should be focused on agricultural land to reduce the loss of soil carbon and nutrients to the stream.