© 1995 by Institute of Chartered Foresters
The chemical composition of needle and leaf litter from Scots pine, Norway spruce and white birch in Scandinavian forests
Department of Forest Soils P.O. Box 7001 Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences S-750 07 Uppsala, Sweden.
Needle litter from 14 stands of Scots pine (Pinus silvestris, L.), 13 stands of Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) and leaf litter from three stands of white birch (Betula pubescens Ehrh.) were analysed for chemical composition. The concentrations of the elements N, P, K, Ca, Mg and Mn as well as solid organic components (lignin, cellulose and hemicelluloses) and solubles were determined. When the average chemical compositions were compared the Scots pine needle litter was clearly the most nutrient-poor litter type. Of the solid organic-chemical components the lignin fraction dominated in the spruce and birch litter whereas the cellulose dominated in the pine needle litter.
When Norway spruce and Scots pine were growing in adjacent stands on soils with the same bedrock origin the spruce litter had significantly higher concentrations of nutrients (N, P, K, Ca, Mg, Mn) than the pine needle litter. At sites where Norway spruce and white birch were growing in adjacent stands, the birch leaf litter had generally higher concentrations of nutrients. How ever, significant or nearly significant differences were only obtained for Mg (P = 0.002), K (P = 0.056) and N (P = 0.087), probably due to the few replicates of stands compared. Concerning organic chemical components, the spruce needle litter had significantly higher concentrations of lignin and mannan than all the other litters and lower levels of ethanol-soluble substances, cellulose and galactan than the pine needle litter. Further, it had lower concentrations of water solubles, rhamnan and xylan than the birch litter.
No relationships were established between the nutrient status of the conifer litters and the site index H100 (the dominant height of the trees at a reference age of 100 years) of the stands. Concentrations of solid carbohydrates in the litters were, however, positively correlated with site index (P < 0.001). Further, the concentration of nitrogen in the pine needle litter was negatively correlated with the latitude of the sites (P < 0.01). The influence of litter chemistry on the decomposition of litter and nutrient cycling of forests is discussed.
Received 5 November 1993.
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