Lili Zhou?Addo-Danso Daniel Shalom?Pengfei Wu?Shubin Li?Yayun Jia?Xiangqing Ma

Litterfall production and nutrient return in different-aged Chinese fir(Cunninghamia lanceolata)plantations in South China

Lili Zhou?Addo-Danso Daniel Shalom?Pengfei Wu?Shubin Li?Yayun Jia?Xiangqing Ma

The amounts of litter produced and nutrients returned play a fundamental role in the productivity and biogeochemical and nutrient cycling of forest ecosystems. We monitored annual litterfall production,nutrient return, and monthly dynamics overa one-yearperiod in Chinese fir plantations aged 10,22,and 34 years.Ourobjective was to quantify litterfalland nutrientreturn overa complete harvestrotation ofChinese fir.Annuallitterfallproduction increased with stand age and was recorded as(3,294.6±360.4), (3,733.9±211.2),and(4,876.1±212.8)kg ha-1a-1in stands aged 10,22 and 34 years,respectively.Total litter production was significantly greater in the stand aged 34 yearsthan in the stand aged 10 years(p