Litter Amount of Pinus massoniana Natural Forest at Different Ages in Hengshan Mountain

Abstract

Litter participates in material circulation and energy transfer, and is an important part of carbon pool, which affects the ecological service function of soil and water conservation. In this paper, the natural forest of Pinus massoniana in Hengshan Mountain was taken as the research object. Through collecting the litter of the natural forest of Pinus massoniana, the composition of the litter and the annual litter amount of each component were analyzed. The results showed that: the litter was mainly composed of bark, cones, branches, needles, broad leaves and semi decomposition. The average annual litter amount of each component was 49.47 g/m2, 84.35 g/m2, 108.87 g/m2, 318.45 g/m2, 101.11 g/m2, 372.62 g/m2, respectively. The main components were semi decomposition, needles and branches. The annual total amount was 884.61–1207.68 g/m2, which increased with the forest age. To master the litter composition characteristics of Pinus massoniana natural forest is helpful for the further study of its decomposition characteristics and the measurement of water.