Litter dynamics of major successional communities in Maolan karst forest of China
Aims Litter is a key in nutrient cycling and energy flow of forest ecosystems. Our objective was to study thefunctions of karst forest litter by analyzing litter dynamics.Methods Litter samples were collected monthly from karst primary forest, secondary forest and shrubland in ourMaolan karst study area from October 2006 to December 2008. We divided the samples into leaves, branches,flowers and fruit, and others and weighed each after drying to constant weight at 80 °C.Important findings The annual mean litter productions of primary forest, secondary forest and shrubland in theMaolan karst study area were 4.503, 3.505 and 2.912 t-hnT2, respectively. The proportions of leaves, branches,flowers and fruits, and others for karst primary forest were 64.72%, 14.60%, 12.33% and 8.35%, respectively,while for karst secondary forest were 74.28%, 7.43%, 10.88% and 7.41%, respectively, and for karst shrublandwere 75.94%, 8.56%, 12.93% and 2.57%, respectively. Therefore, leaves dominated litter. The monthly litterfallproduction dynamics for each community exhibited a bimodel distribution, with peaks early in the growing seasonand at dormancy.
karst forestlitterlitter-fall dynamicsMaolansuccession community
NETL
NSTL
万方数据
维普
