Litterfall Production Along Successional and Altitudinal Gradients of Subtropical Monsoon Evergreen Broadleaved Forests in Guangdong, China

Litterfall deposition and leaf litter nutrient return in different locations at Northeastern Mexico

“…Samples were oven-dried to a constant weight at 65°C for 72 h and weighed to the nearest milligram. In this study, the duration of the drying temperature is within the range of earlier reports (Vasconcelos and Luizão 2004;Zayed 2004;Pavón et al 2005;Mlambo and Nyathi 2007;Zhou et al 2007). Dry samples were ground in a Wiley mill (Thomas Scientific) to pass 1.0-mm mesh sieve and were kept in closed paper envelopes.…”

“…Trap contents were collected at 15-day intervals between December 21, 2006, andDecember 20, 2007. Since area and height above the ground of litter traps as well as the sampling period of collection in litterfall studies are variable, which in many circumstances depends on the total area sampled, type of vegetation, the temporal and spatial variation in litterfall production, and to prevent significant decomposition and leaching loss of nutrients by throughfall between collections resulting in an underestimation of the true litterfall flux of nutrients to the forest soil, in this study, the area of sampling, number of traps and height above soil level, and litter collection period are within the range of previous studies (Ukonmaanaho and Starr 2001;Finotti et al 2003;Read and Lawrence 2003;Yang et al 2004Yang et al , 2006Fang et al 2007;Zhou et al 2007). Litter contents were manually sorted into the following categories: leaves, reproductive structures (flowers, fruits, and seeds) twigs or branches (\2 cm in diameter), and miscellaneous residues (unidentified, fine plant tissue such as bark, pieces of insect bodies or feces).…”

“…In addition, these differences could be extended to the LLNUE estimated for each site. It has been reported that litter production and litter chemistry in forest ecosystems is determined by age and rainfall (Yang et al 2006;Zhou et al 2007), and successional stage (Yankelevich et al 2006). In addition, rates of nutrient return to the forest soil are controlled not only by the amount of litter production but also by the nutrient concentrations in litter components (Yang et al 2006;Mlambo and Nyathi 2007).…”

“…Evaluation of litterfall production is important for understanding nutrient cycling, forest growth, successional pathways, carbon fluxes, disturbance ecology, and interactions with environmental variables in forest ecosystems (Vasconcelos and Luizão 2004;Zhou et al 2007). However, litterfall inputs vary widely among forest ecosystems in terms of quality (Duchesne et al 2001;Vasconcelos and Luizão 2004) and quantity (Rothe and Binkley 2001;Zhou et al 2007).…”

“…However, litterfall inputs vary widely among forest ecosystems in terms of quality (Duchesne et al 2001;Vasconcelos and Luizão 2004) and quantity (Rothe and Binkley 2001;Zhou et al 2007). The quality of soil organic matter is of great importance for the majority of the functional processes occurring in the soil of forest ecosystems (Santa-Regina et al 2005).…”