Litterfall production and leaf area index in a virgin European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) – Silver fir (Abies alba Mill.) forest

Abstract

Because of their role in carbon and nutrient exchange, litterfall and leaf area have been increasingly studied in the last few decades. However, most existing information comes from managed forests, while comparable data for virgin forests is scarce. To address this scarcity, we investigated a mixed beechsilver fir virgin forest located in the Southern Carpathian Mountains, using 78 litter traps to measure the annual litterfall production, litter composition and leaf area index (LAI). The LAI was calculated in two ways: directly, by using litter traps, and indirectly, based on hemispherical photographs. Furthermore, we investigated the influence of different stand and environmental characteristics on litter production, total foliar mass and LAIs. Annual litter productivity ranged from 1.8 to 8.3 t ha −1 with a mean of 3.5 t ha −1 . Litter was composed mainly of beech leaves (66%) along with a lower percentage of silver fir needles (16%). The total foliar dry mass (sum of beech leaves and silver fir needles) increased significantly with the proportion of beeches and decreased with the median stand age. The LAI determined by using litter traps had a mean value of 5.06 m 2 m −2 , ranging from 3.52 to 8.22, and was characterised by a higher variability than the LAI estimated indirectly using the hemispherical approach (which had a mean value of 3.65 and a range of 2.30-5.28). The two indices did not correlate with each other. We found no significant relation between the LAIs and any stand or environmental variables. We conclude that in the more complex forests, such as the virgin beech -silver fir mixed forest we studied, annual foliar dry mass is more closely related to stand characteristics than is LAI. We also note significant limitations of both LAI estimation methods, which indicate that a more elaborate approach to estimating LAI is needed.

Supplementary material to "Reviews and syntheses: VOC emissions from soil cover in boreal and temperate natural ecosystems of the Northern Hemisphere "

“…In the literature, one can find only a few reports on this topic, some information of which is presented in Table S2. Analysis of works published in recent years shows that litter is measured in the framework of research on specific sites (Gomez-Armesto et al, 2020;Petritan et al, 2020;Jasińska et al, 2020;Brumme et al, 2021;Ott and Watmough, 2021). For a number of those studies cited in Table S3, the refinement of litter biomass is a subordinate task that allows to obtain, when recalculated, data on the mass of chemical elements, for example, C, N, P, Hg, etc., to describe their accumulation in litter and to establish the quantitative series of chemical elements and their ratio (C/N) (Jasi'nska et al, 2020).…”

Allometric Biomass Models for European Beech and Silver Fir: Testing Approaches to Minimize the Demand for Site-Specific Biomass Observations

“…The climate is temperate continental with a mean annual temperature of 6.1 • C and average annual rainfall of 1100 mm. The bedrock consists of crystalline schists, and the soils are predominantly cambisols [42].…”