Litter dynamics of evergreen deciduous broad-leaved mixed forests and its influential factors in Shennongjia, China

doi:10.17521/cjpe.2018.0052

Abstract

Abstract:

Aims Litter is an important component of terrestrial ecosystems. The dynamics of litter can reflect the stage of terrestrial ecosystems and the impact of environment on vegetation. Our objective was to explore the dynamics of litter production and standing crop in evergreen deciduous broad-leaved mixed forests and the underlying factors.

Methods During 2009-2015, we observed the litter production and the standing crop of a typical vegetation at Shennongjia, Hubei Province and analyzed their dynamics and relationships with meteorological factors.

Important findings 1) The results showed that the average annual litter production and standing crop were 5.94 t·hm^-2 and 10.46 t·hm^-2, respectively. Additionally, there was no remarkable inter-annual changing trend between 2009 and 2014, nevertheless a significant lower value appeared in 2015 with much more days of late spring coldness. 2) The seasonal dynamics presented double peaks, in March to May and October separately. 3) The monthly litter production was positively correlated with the monthly average air temperature of the previous 1-4 months, but negatively correlated with that in the 8th, 9th and 10th months before the month. In addition, it was negatively associated with the monthly average relative humidity of the 6th, 7th and 10th months before the month. 4) The average seasonality index of litter production was 0.032, which was strongly positively correlated with the annual average air temperature. We concluded that the phenomenon of long-term late spring coldness will affect annual litter production and standing crop significantly. The monthly average air temperature and relative humidity had significant lag effect on the seasonal dynamics of litter production, and the annual average air temperature had positive influence on the seasonality index of litter production in the major forest types in north subtropics.

http://jtp.cnki.net/bilingual/detail/html/ZWSB201806002

Key words: litter production, litter standing crop, lag effect, seasonality index, north subtropics

LIU Lu, ZHAO Chang-Ming, XU Wen-Ting, SHEN Guo-Zhen, XIE Zong-Qiang. Litter dynamics of evergreen deciduous broad-leaved mixed forests and its influential factors in Shennongjia, China[J]. Chin J Plant Ecol, 2018, 42(6): 619-628.

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URL: https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/10.17521/cjpe.2018.0052

https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/Y2018/V42/I6/619

Figures/Tables 8

Fig. 1 The dynamics of annual litter production from 2009 to 2015 (mean ± SD). Every point is the average annual value of the mass in 13 litter traps.

Fig. 2 The relationship of litter production and the number of late spring coldness days from 2009 to 2015. Every point of litter production is the average annual value of the mass in 13 litter traps.

Fig. 3 The intra-annual dynamics of different composition of litter production from 2009 to 2015 (mean ± SD). Every point of litter production is the average monthly value of the mass in 13 litter traps. A, B, C, and D denote leaf litter, twig litter, reproductive organ litter and total litter, respectively.

Fig. 4 Principal component analysis of the monthly values for eight meteorological variables from January 2008 to December 2015. The factor loadings of variables for the first two components are shown (the percentages are the variance explained by each axis). “prep” stands for monthly precipitation and “temp”, “max temp”, “min temp” stands for monthly average air temperature, monthly maximum air temperature and monthly minimum air temperature respectively.

Fig. 5 Cross correlation coefficients for monthly total litter production (A), leaf litter production (B), branch litter production (C) and reproductive organ litter production (D) as a function of monthly average air temperature and cross correlation coefficients for monthly total litter production (E), leaf litter production (F), branch litter production (G) and reproductive organ litter production (H) as a function of monthly average relative humidity. For these analyses, the litter time series was lagged against monthly average air temperature and monthly average relative humidity. n = 87. *, p < 0.05; **, p < 0.01; ***, p < 0.001.

Fig. 6 The seasonality index of litter production from 2009 to 2015. The dotted line represents the average value of seasonality index among seven years.

Fig. 7 The dynamics of annual litter standing crop from 2009 to 2015 (mean ± SD). Every point is the average annual value of the mass in 13 litter traps.

Table 1 The litter production and standing crop of forests in the main climate zones around the world

气候带 Climate zone	森林类型 Forest type	凋落物产量 Litter production (t·hm^-2·a^-1)	凋落物现存量 Litter standing crop (t·hm^-2·a^-1)	参考文献 Reference
热带 Tropics	亚马孙半落叶森林 Semideciduous forests in Amazon Basin	8-10.5	5-8	Sanches et al., 2008
	澳大利亚北部热带雨林 Tropical rain forests in northern Australia	5.44-11.29	3.7-10.94	Parsons et al., 2014
	中国台湾南部常绿阔叶林 The evergreen broadleaved forest in southern Taiwan, China	6.98-9.13		Liao et al., 2006
亚热带 Subtropics	巴西巴拉那州半落叶森林 Semideciduous forests in Parana, Brazil	7.17-9.33		Gon?alves Toscan et al., 2014
	中国鼎湖山常绿阔叶林 The evergreen broadleaved forest in Dinghu Mt., China	6.39-11.04		Guan et al., 2004
	中国川西亚高山箭竹群落 Subalpine bamboo communities in western Sichuan, China		6.5-46.3	Qi et al., 2004
	中国神农架常绿落叶阔叶混交林 The evergreen deciduous broadleaved mixed forest in Shennongjia, China	5.94	10.46	本研究 This research
温带 Temperate zone	中国长白山针阔混交林 Coniferous broadleaved mixed forests in Changbai Mountain, China	3.15-5.12		Li et al., 2010
	中国东北主要森林类型 The main forest types in northeastern China	2.34-4.15		Zhang et al., 2008
	巴西东南部大西洋沿岸次生林 The secondary Atlantic forest in southeastern Brazil	5.7		Ferreira et al., 2014
	中国辽宁油松蒙古栎林 The forest of Quercus mongolica and Pinus koraiensis in Liaoning, China		11.13	Cui & Chan, 2008

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