Allometric relationships among different components of forest litterfall in China

doi:10.3724/SP.J.1258.2013.00110

Abstract

Abstract:

Aims Litterfall is a measure of the metabolic product of forest plants during their growth. It plays an important part in the fluxes and recycling of matter and energy. The metabolic theory of ecology posits that there exist allometric relationships among different organs of a plant. However, all these scaling relationships do not take into account the potential contribution of litterfall, and hence much remains unknown about the allometric relationships among the different components of litterfall. In this study, we analyze the allometric relationships between component as well as the allometric relationships of the total litterfall with different components.
Methods We compiled data on forest litterfall from the literature published in Chinese journals and divided these data into evergreen forests and deciduous forests for analysis of the allometric relationships between components as well as the allometric relationships of the total litterfall with different components.
Important findings We found that the average amount of litterfall was 3810.34 kg·hm^-2·a^-1, 1019.07 kg·hm^-2·a^-1, and 767.95 kg·hm^-2·a^-1 as leaves, branches, and propagules, respectively. Compared with precipitation and stand age, temperature had a greater effect on forest litterfall production. An isometrical relationship was observed between leaves and the total litterfall, as L_L ∝ L_T ^0.96(L_L, leaf litterfall; L_T, total litterfall); whereas an allometric relationship was found between the propagules and the total litterfall as L_P ∝ L_T^1.84(L_P, propagule litterfall), and between the branches and the total litterfall as L_B ∝ L_T^1.61 (L_B, branch litterfall), respectively. Significant allometric relationships were also observed among different components, with exponents all less than 1.0 in each case. Allometric relationships of the total litterfall with different components were approximately the same between the evergreen forests and the deciduous forests. The allometric relationships found in this study provide valuable insights into the investigation and estimation of forest productivity.

Key words: allometry, deciduous forest, evergreen forest, productivity

MA Yu-Zhu, CHENG Dong-Liang, ZHONG Quan-Lin, JIN Bing-Jie, XU Chao-Bin, HU Bo. Allometric relationships among different components of forest litterfall in China[J]. Chin J Plant Ecol, 2013, 37(12): 1071-1079.

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URL: https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/10.3724/SP.J.1258.2013.00110

https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/Y2013/V37/I12/1071

Figures/Tables 8

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林型 Forest type	组分 Component	样本量 n	平均值 Mean	标准误 SE	变幅 Range
常绿林 Evergreen forest	叶 Leaves	203	4 132	160.04	14, 13 592
	枝 Branches	200	1 176	62.18	1, 4 750
	繁殖器官 Propagules	168	875	71.49	8, 4 816
	总量 Total	203	6 015	217.78	46, 16 314
落叶林 Deciduous forest	叶 Leaves	49	2 586	426.73	110, 13 090
	枝 Branches	45	230	44.03	1, 1 214
	繁殖器官 Propagules	26	249	70.28	2, 1 678
	总量 Total	49	2 929	468.29	110, 13 720
总体 Whole	叶 Leaves	265	3 810	152.43	14, 13 592
	枝 Branches	258	1 019	65.62	1, 10 418
	繁殖器官 Propagules	205	768	61.6	2, 4 816
	总量 Total	265	5 397	210.54	46, 18 537

林型 Forest type	组分 Component	样本量 n	平均值 Mean	标准误 SE	变幅 Range
常绿林 Evergreen forest	叶 Leaves	203	4 132	160.04	14, 13 592
	枝 Branches	200	1 176	62.18	1, 4 750
	繁殖器官 Propagules	168	875	71.49	8, 4 816
	总量 Total	203	6 015	217.78	46, 16 314
落叶林 Deciduous forest	叶 Leaves	49	2 586	426.73	110, 13 090
	枝 Branches	45	230	44.03	1, 1 214
	繁殖器官 Propagules	26	249	70.28	2, 1 678
	总量 Total	49	2 929	468.29	110, 13 720
总体 Whole	叶 Leaves	265	3 810	152.43	14, 13 592
	枝 Branches	258	1 019	65.62	1, 10 418
	繁殖器官 Propagules	205	768	61.6	2, 4 816
	总量 Total	265	5 397	210.54	46, 18 537

		log(T)	log(P)	log(A)	n	R²	p
	常数d Constant d	系数a Coefficient a	系数b Coefficient b	系数c Coefficient c	n	R²	p
log(L) = a log(T) + d
叶 Leaves	-39.40	17.42			264	0.184	<0.001
枝 Branches	-80.12	33.67			257	0.282	<0.001
繁殖器官 Propagules	-80.18	33.62			204	0.243	<0.001
总量 Total	-49.52	21.59			264	0.264	<0.001
log(L) = b log(P) + d
叶 Leaves	0.70		0.88		257	0.138	<0.001
枝 Branches	-3.68		2.05		250	0.330	<0.001
繁殖器官 Propagules	-1.41		1.26		201	0.106	<0.001
总量 Total	0.21		1.08		257	0.197	<0.001
log(L) = c log(A) + d
叶 Leaves	2.39			0.610	74	0.141	0.001
枝 Branches	1.01			0.990	71	0.232	<0.001
繁殖器官 Propagules	1.19			0.650	49	0.123	0.014
总量 Total	2.44			0.660	74	0.175	<0.001
log(L) = a log(T) + b log(P) + c log(A)
叶 Leaves		0.301	-0.216	0.352	70	0.118	0.039
枝 Branches		0.632	0.021	0.513	67	0.497	<0.001
繁殖器官 Propagules		0.794	-0.515	0.629	49	0.336	<0.001
总量 Total		0.440	-0.216	0.416	70	0.187	0.003

		log(T)	log(P)	log(A)	n	R²	p
	常数d Constant d	系数a Coefficient a	系数b Coefficient b	系数c Coefficient c	n	R²	p
log(L) = a log(T) + d
叶 Leaves	-39.40	17.42			264	0.184	<0.001
枝 Branches	-80.12	33.67			257	0.282	<0.001
繁殖器官 Propagules	-80.18	33.62			204	0.243	<0.001
总量 Total	-49.52	21.59			264	0.264	<0.001
log(L) = b log(P) + d
叶 Leaves	0.70		0.88		257	0.138	<0.001
枝 Branches	-3.68		2.05		250	0.330	<0.001
繁殖器官 Propagules	-1.41		1.26		201	0.106	<0.001
总量 Total	0.21		1.08		257	0.197	<0.001
log(L) = c log(A) + d
叶 Leaves	2.39			0.610	74	0.141	0.001
枝 Branches	1.01			0.990	71	0.232	<0.001
繁殖器官 Propagules	1.19			0.650	49	0.123	0.014
总量 Total	2.44			0.660	74	0.175	<0.001
log(L) = a log(T) + b log(P) + c log(A)
叶 Leaves		0.301	-0.216	0.352	70	0.118	0.039
枝 Branches		0.632	0.021	0.513	67	0.497	<0.001
繁殖器官 Propagules		0.794	-0.515	0.629	49	0.336	<0.001
总量 Total		0.440	-0.216	0.416	70	0.187	0.003

林型 Forest type	组分对比 Component comparison	样本量 n	α (95%置信区间) α (95% confidence interval)	logβ (95%置信区间) logβ (95% confidence interval)	R²
常绿林 Evergreen forest	L_L∝ L_T	203	1.05 (1.01, 1.09)	-0.36 (-0.51, -0.21)	0.922^**
	L_B∝ L_T	200	1.41 (1.28, 1.56)	-2.31 (-2.84, -1.78)	0.479^**
	L_P∝ L_T	168	1.82 (1.62, 2.05)	-4.12 (-4.91, -3.32)	0.417^**
落叶林 Deciduous forest	L_L∝ L_T	49	0.97 (0.95, 1.00)	0.04 (-0.03, 0.11)	0.994^**
	L_B∝ L_T	45	1.46 (1.22, 1.75)	-2.86 (-3.73, -1.99)	0.652^**
	L_P∝ L_T	26	1.51 (1.11, 2.05)	-3.26 (-4.90, -1.63)	0.450^**
常绿林+落叶林 Evergreen forest + deciduous forest	L_L∝ L_T	265	0.96 (0.94, 0.99)	-0.01 (-0.11, 0.08)	0.948^**
	L_B∝ L_T	258	1.61 (1.50, 1.74)	-3.11 (-3.55, -2.67)	0.632^**
	L_P∝ L_T	205	1.84 (1.66, 2.04)	-4.21 (-4.90, -3.51)	0.449^**