Relationships between decomposition rate of leaf litter and initial quality across the alpine timberline ecotone in Western Sichuan, China
The relationships between litter decomposition rate and their initial quality of 14 representative plants in the alpine forest ecotone of western Sichuan were investigated in this paper.The decomposition rate k of the litter ranged from 0.16 to 1.70.Woody leaf litter and moss litter decomposed much slower,and shrubby litter decomposed a little faster.Then,herbaceous litters decomposed fastest among all plant forms.There were significant linear regression relationships between the litter decomposition rate and the N content,lignin content,phenolics content,C/N,C/P and lignin/N.Lignin/N and hemicellulose content could explain 78.4％ variation of the litter decomposition rate (k) by path analysis.The lignin/N could explain 69.5％ variation of k alone,and the direct path coefficient of lignin/N on k was-0.913.Principal component analysis (PCA) showed that the contribution rate of the first sort axis to k and the decomposition time (t) reached 99.2％.Significant positive correlations existed between lignin/N,lignin content,C/N,C/P and the first sort axis,and the closest relationship existed between lignin/N and the first sort axis (r=0.923).Lignin/N was the key quality factor affecting plant litter decomposition rate across the alpine timberline ecotone,with the higher the initial lignin/N,the lower the decomposition rate of leaf litter.
国家科技期刊平台
NSTL
万方数据
维普
