The Amount and Mineral Nutrient Content of Freshly Fallen Leaf Litter in the Hardwood Forests of Central New York¹

Nutrient Content of Leaf Litter of Trees in the Northern Rocky Mountains

“…The data also show an increase in the N content of these two tree species where they extend into the impoverished flora, but Ca nutrition seems much more likely to be ecologically critical in the cold wet climates of these high mountain slopes. In Wyoming, Dunnewald (1930) also found the Ca content of Picea to increase with increasing pH of the soil and Chandler (1941) reports a similar relationship for Acer in New York, the Ca content of leaves rising sharply as the pH rises above 4.5.…”

“…Although nutrient content often appears unrelated to soil fertility as indicated by chemical analyses of soil or by vigor of growth, special correlations of local significance have found with sufficient frequency that this relationship always deserves study. In any inquiry into why trees grow where they do, the varied influences of the different species must be given careful consideration, for small initial differences in environment may cause differences in the pioneer vegetation, then the contrasted floras add so much more difference as to obscure the primary factor that caused initial divergence (Chandler 1939).…”

Profile Development in the Sand Dunes of Culbin Forest, Morayshire

“…There is considerable evidence to show that nutrient content is more dependent on species, both hardwoods and conifers, than on the nutrient status of the site, provided that this lies within certain broad limits. Metz (1952) finds no correlation between soil type and the nutrient status of the litter of Shortleaf pine (P. echinata) and Loblolly pine (P. taeda); Chandler (1941) finds that for deciduous species in forests in New York State, with high nutrient requirements relative to conifers, there is no correlation between the calcium status of the foliage and that of the soil except in the most acid sites (pH less than 4-0), and McVickar (1949) also finds no significant foliage difference except between the worst and the best of his sites. Aaltonen (1950), comparing the nutrient content of foliage of Scots pine, Norway spruce, and birch, grown on different Cajander forest site types in Finland, finds that only birch reacts strongly to improvement in site type, the effect being most marked in the calcium and nitrogen content.…”

Discriminant analysis some east Tennessee forest herb niches

“…The fact that litter depth was not highly correlated with this axis implies that such litter accumulations must be rapidly decomposing types (e.g., Liriodendron tulipifera) that may also be relatively high in calcium and other bases (Chandler, 1941). More level slopes may also have higher available moisture levels, implying that this axis may also represent a moisture-nutrient axis.…”

“…It should be noted that no pattern of distribution in relation to any of the variables measured was apparent during the data collection, with the possible exception of total basal area in relation to G. pilosum. Discriminant function three (cedar areas), most highly correlated with Juniperus basal area and litter, can be related to high pH, dryness, high calcium, or allelopathic influences of Juniperus (Chandler, 1941 ;Rice, 1974). If this function is interpreted as a moisture axis, G. pilosum has a mean occurrence at the xeric end.…”