Nutritional Contribution of Litterfall for a Surrounding Forest Area according to the Distance of a Forest Fragment

Abstract

Litterfall is the principal mechanism for sustaining forests ecosystems. Besides nutrient cycling and carbon sink, there are other ecosystem services related with litterfall, such as the contribution of drift litter to neighboring areas in keeping soil fertility. The goal this work was quantify the nutrients of literfall in nearby area of the forest fragment as function of distance. Nets were installed for receiving litter, starting at the edges of the forest fragment. The litterfall deposited on the edge and at distances of 5 by 5 meters from the edge was collected during three months. In order to estimate the deposition of this litter after one year, wind data, and monitoring data of deciduous inside the fragment were used. The results showed supply of nutrients of literfall until 20 meters distant from the fragment. And when we are considering the export of nutrients at harvest of maize in crop with low use of inputs the replacement of Ca can reach 45% at distance of 20 meters, showing the relevance of nutrient input in nearby areas of forest fragments.