Litter production and its dynamic pattern in a dark coniferous forest in the alpine gorge region
Litterfall and its components and dynamical patterns play primary roles in forest material cycling,but studies on litterfall in the alpine gorge region have shown inconsistent results due to the complicated topography and climate.Therefore,monthly dynamical patterns of litterfall and its components were investigated from August 2015 to August 2016 in a primary dark coniferous forest.The forest was dominated by Larix mastersiana and Abiesfaxoniana at the altitude of 3 589 m.The results showed that:1) Annual litter production in the forest was 3 839.68 ± 399.34 kg/hm2.Foliar litter accounted for 44.61％ of total litterfall production (evergreen foliar litter 55.25％,deciduous foliar litter 44.75％,arbors foliar litter 95.88％,and shrubs foliar litter 4.12％),barks and twigs accounted for 46.63％,reproductive organs accounted for 0.92％,mosses accounted for 2.08％,and other components accounted for 5.75％.2) The main sources of foliar litter were L.mastersiana and A.faxoniana,accounting for 76.64％ of the total amount of collected foliar litter,indicating that foliar litter production of the dominant species greatly influenced the dynamics of total litter production.3) Litter production of foliar litter,twigs,and barks displayed a bimodal monthly pattern,and their peaks appeared in September,October and May,respectively.The moss and reproductive organs showed a mono-peak curve,and its peak appeared in May.Arbors and evergreen tree species displayed a bimodal monthly course,while deciduous tree species presented a mono-peak curve.These results provide basic data for further understanding of the material cycling and its related ecological processes in the dark coniferous forest in the alpine gorge region.
dark coniferous forestlittercomponentproductiondynamics
NETL
NSTL
万方数据
维普
