Unpublished report of the Tambopata Reserve Society
soils Reserva Nacional Tambopata Parque Nacional Bahuaja-Sonene Madre de Dios Bibliography
The TRZ has been studied ecologically several times since it was established in 1977 and it is one of the best known places in the neotropics. Despite that several studies of vegetation indicate a high degree of association between plant communities and soil types, they had not been studied in detail. This work presents a study (made in 1993) of the soils in the forest and the description of its characteristics besides brief notes about the vegetation in each of them. A sampling of soils was made in homogeneous surfaces, of the different forest types (avoiding "quebradas" and other unusual topographic forms). It was determined that the soils of the TRZ present a considerable variation related with factors such as: hydrological regime, parent materials and topography. The association between soils and plant communities is confirmed, however, there is a high variability of the characteristics of the soils within certain forest types, specially in terra firme forests.