Temporal variation of vegetation litterfall and oil characteristics at Tasik Chini Biosphere Reserve, Pahang

Abstract

Abstract. This study was carried out to determine temporal variation of vegetation litterfall and soil nutrients at Tasik Chini Biosphere Reserve (TCBR), Pahang. A total of 1.5 ha sampling area consisting of 30 permanent sampling plots (20 x 25 m) was selected in the three TCBR management zones i.e the core, buffer and transition zones. Each zone consisted of 10 permanent sampling plots. Litter traps were installed in the 30 permanent sampling plots and the litters were collected started in December 2012. Soil samples from each sampling plot were obtained in December 2012 to represent the wet season and the soils were analysed. This paper reports our initial findings for the first five months of the litterfall data. Mean annual litterfall of the study site was estimated at 7,670.58 1.32 kg ha -1 y -1. The proportion of leaf litter component (82.16%) was the highest compared to other components. The litterfall varied monthly, whereby April 2013 had the highest value at 10.37 kg and the highest mean monthly litterfall at 0.35 0.2 kg. Core zone had the highest litterfall at 0.37 0.03 kg in April 2013, whilst buffer zone recorded 0.07 0.01 kg in January 2013 that was the lowest value of litterfall production. However, analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed there was no significant difference amongst the mean monthly dry weight (kg) of litterfall between the three zones (p=0.05) at TCBR from December 2012 to April 2013. Physical characteristics of the soil revealed that the core zone had sandy clay texture while the buffer and transition zones were clay loam texture. The percentage of organic matter and air dry moisture were the highest at core zone. For the soil chemical characteristics, soil pH of the three study sites were very acidic. Exchangeable cations and cation exchange capacity (CEC) were low whilst the electrical capacity (EC) was between 2.16 0.09 until 2.24 0.07 mS/cm for all three management zones. However, ANOVA also showed there were no significant differences in pH, exchangeable cations, CEC and EC between three management zones (p=0.05) in TCBR.