Litterfall, litter and associated chemistry in a dry sclerophyll eucalypt forest and a pine plantation in south-eastern Australia: 2. Nutrient recycling by litter, throughfall and stemflow

• Published in: Hydrological processes 1998-03, Vol.12 (3), p.385-400
• Main Authors: Crockford, R. H., Richardson, D. P.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Alkali metal compounds; Animal and plant ecology; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Biological and medical sciences; Biomass; eucalyptus forest; Flow of water; Forestry; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General forest ecology; Generalities. Production, biomass. Quality of wood and forest products. General forest ecology; litterfall; Nitrogen compounds; nutrient recycling; Phosphorus compounds; pine plantation; Plants (botany); stemflow; Synecology; Terrestrial ecosystems; throughfall
• ISSN: 0885-6087; 1099-1085
• DOI: 10.1002/(SICI)1099-1085(19980315)12:3<385::AID-HYP589>3.0.CO;2-W

This paper concerns recycling of the major nutrients (N, P, Ca, Mg, Na and K) by litterfall, throughfall and stemflow in a dry sclerophyll eucalypt forest and a nearby Pinus radiata plantation of similar tree density and basal area. With the exception of Mg, the concentration of these nutrients in eucalypt leaf‐fall were substantially higher than in pine needlefall. The eucalypt nutrient input was greater owing to larger mass of litterfall, as well as higher concentrations. There were inverse relationships between N and P concentrations and amount of leaf‐fall for the eucalypts and needlefall for the pines. Mg was positively correlated with eucalypt leaf‐fall. For the other components and elements the relationships were random. The proportion of particular nutrients recycled by litterfall, and throughfall and stemflow, varied for both forests. For Ca, only 6 and 12%, for eucalypts and pines respectively, was recycled by throughfall and stemflow, compared with 52 and 68% of potassium. The amount of nitrogen recycled differed between the forests, in a way that was consistent with the eucalypts being native to a nitrogen‐poor environment. Amounts of floor‐litter collected in the eucalypt forest from two fairly distinct layers, the loose and cohesive litter, were similar. The concentrations of Mg and Na were similar in both layers, but the other elements varied substantially. The N concentration of the cohesive litter was more than double that of the loose layer, whereas its P concentration was only 10% of the loose layer value. Selected chemical analyses on the total tree biomass of the eucalypt forest showed that the concentration of elements increased in the order; wood, twigs, fine twigs and leaf, and from large diameter wood to fine twigs. However, the concentration in fine twig and leaf components varied between the elements. For Ca, P and K, the fine twig values were greater than the leaf values, but the reverse applied to the other elements. The concentrations of almost all elements in all components were substantially higher in Eucalyptus mannifera than in E. rossii, E. macrorhyncha and E. melliodora. The nutrient content of the floor‐litter was compared with the twig, fine twig and leaf components of the live biomass, i.e. the components most likely to become readily decomposable floor‐litter. For all elements except N, the amount in floor‐litter was similar to the amount in the biomass components. This was because the concentration of N in the floor