Root starch and glucose content were measured for young saplings of 18 Amazonian tidal várzea tree species during a dry season. The pattern of carbohydrate storage depended on the type of plant involved and soil topography which is directly linked to flood regime. Most plants showed high root carbohydrate content at this point in the dry season, however, several typically flood-tolerant species (particularly palm trees) presented a low root carbohydrate content, suggesting a strategy of acquiring reserves during the wet season to survive the dry season, when depletion occurs. Plant survival in these flood-prone forests seems to be the result of more than only one adaptive mechanism.
Amazon; carbohydrate; flooding; roots; tidal várzea