Litterfall and nutrient return in a semi-arid southern African savanna woodland dominated by Colophospermum mopane

Plant Ecology

Volumn 196, Issue 1, 2008, Pages 101-110

  Mlambo, Donald ^a   Nyathi, Petros ^a  

^a NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY   (Zimbabwe)

Author keywords

Element turnover; Litter production; Litter standing crop; Mopane; Nutrient cycling

Indexed keywords

DICOTYLEDON; LITTERFALL; NUTRIENT CYCLING; PHYTOMASS; POTASSIUM; SAVANNA; SOIL NITROGEN; SOIL NUTRIENT; SOIL ORGANIC MATTER; WOODLAND;

AFRICA; BULAWAYO [ZIMBABWE]; SOUTHERN AFRICA; SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA; ZIMBABWE;

COLOPHOSPERMUM MOPANE;

EID: 41549122899     PISSN: 13850237     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1007/s11258-007-9337-2     Document Type: Article

References (33)

1. Anderson JM, Ingram JSI (1993) Tropical soil biology and fertility: a handbook of methods, 2nd edn. CAB International, Wallingford, UK, 221 pp
2. Arunachalam A, Arunachalam K, Pandey HN, Tripathi RS (1998) Fine litterfall and nutrient dynamics during forest regrowth in the humid subtropics of north-eastern India. Forest Ecol Manag 110:209-210
3. Binkley D, Giardina CP (1998) Why do tree species affect soils? The warp and woof of tree-soil interactions. Biogeochemistry 42:89-106
4. Bray JR, Gorham E (1964) Litter production in forests of the world. Adv Ecol Res 2:101-157
5. Burghouts TBA, van Straalen NM, Bruijnzeel LA (1998) Spatial heterogeneity of element and litter turnover in a Bornean rain forest. J Trop Ecol 14:477-506
6. Bustamante MMC, Medina E, Asner GP, Nardoto GB, Garcia-Montiel DC (2006) Nitrogen cycling in tropical and temperate savannas. Biogeochemistry 79:209-237
7. Chapman SK, Langley A, Hart SC, Koch GW (2006) Plants actively control nitrogen cycling: uncorking the microbial bottleneck. New Phytol 169:27-34
8. Chuyong GB, Newbery DM, Songwe NC (2000) Litter nutrients and retranslocation in a central African rainforest dominated by ectomycorrhizal trees. New Phytol 148:493-510
9. Dent DH, Bagchi R, Robinson D, Majalap-Lee N, Burslem DFRP (2006) Nutrient fluxes via litterfall and leaf litter decomposition vary across a gradient of soil nutrient supply in a lowland tropical rain forest. Plant Soil 288:197-215
10. Descheemaeker K, Muys B, Nyssen J, Poesen J, Raes D, Haile M, Deckers J (2006) Litter production and organic matter accumulation in exclosures of the Tigray highlands, Ethiopia. Forest Ecol Manag 233:21-35
11. Dunham KM (1989) Litterfall, nutrient-fall and production in an Acacia albida woodland in Zimbabwe. J Trop Ecol 5:227-238
12. FAO (1988) FAO/Unesco Soil Map of the World, Revised legend, with corrections and updates, World Soil Resources Report 60. FAO, Rome, 120 pp
13. Frost PGH (1984) Organic matter and nutrient dynamics in a broadleafed African savannas. In: Tothill JC, Mott JJ (eds) Ecology and management of the world's savannas. Australian Academy of Science, Canberra, pp 232-237
14. Larcher W (1995) Physiological plant ecology. Ecophysiology and stress physiology of functional groups, 3rd edn. Springer, New York
15. Lawrence D (2005) Regional-scale variation in litter production and seasonality in tropical dry forests of southern Mexico. Biotropica 37:561-570
16. Liu W, Fox JED, Zaifu XU (2002) Litterfall and nutrient dynamics in a montane moist evergreen broad-leaved forest in Ailao Mountains, SW China. Plant Ecol 164:157-170
17. Liu C, Westman CJ, Berg B, Kutsch W, Wang GZ, Man R, Ilvesniemi H (2004) Variation in litterfall-climate relationships between coniferous and broadleaf forests in Eurasia. Global Ecol Biogeogr 13:105-114
18. Mapaure I (1994) The distribution of Colophospermum mopane (Leguminosae-Caesalpinioideae) in Africa. Kirkia 5:1-5
19. Medina E (1987) Nutrients; requirements, conservation and cycles of nutrients in the herbaceous layer. In: Walker BH (eds) Determinants of tropical savannas. IR Press, Oxford,UK, pp 39-65
20. Meentemeyer V, Box EO, Thompson R (1982) World patterns amounts of terrestrial plant litter production. Bioscience 32:125-128
21. Mlambo D, Nyathi P, Mapaure I (2005) Influence of Colophospermum mopane on surface soil properties and understorey vegetation in a southern African savanna. Forest Ecol Manag 212:394-404
22. Moore TC (1980) Biochemistry and physiology of plant hormones. Narosa Publishing House and Springer Verlag, New Delhi, 274 pp
23. Morris JW, Bezuidenhout JJ, Furniss PR (1982) Litter decomposition. In: Huntley BJ, Walker BH (eds) The ecology of tropical savannas. Ecological studies - analysis and synthesis, vol 42. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, pp 535-553
24. Musvoto C, Campbell BM, Kirchmann (2000) Decomposition and nutrient release from mango and miombo woodland litter in Zimbabwe. Soil Biol Biochem 32:1111-1119
25. Nardoto GB, Bustamante MM, Pinto AS, Klink CA (2006) Nutrient use efficiency at ecosystem and species level in savanna areas of central Brazil and impacts of fire. J Trop Ecol 22:191-201
26. Olson JS (1963) Energy storage and the balance of producers and decomposers in ecological systems. Ecology 44:322-331
27. Peng S, Ren H, Wu J, Lu H (2003) Effects of litter removal on plant species diversity: a case study in tropical Eucalyptus forest ecosystems in south China. J Environ Sci 15:367-371
28. Proctor J, Anderson JM, Fogden SCL, Vallack HW (1983) Ecological studies to four contrasting lowland rainforest in Gunung Malu National Park, Sarawak: II. Litterfall, litter standing crop and preliminary observation on herbivore. J Ecol 71:261-283
29. Sayer EJ (2006) Using experimental manipulation to assess the roles of leaf litter in the functioning of forest ecosystems. Biol Rev 81:1-31
30. Wright SJ, Cornejo FH (1990) Seasonal drought and leaf fall in a tropical forest. Ecology 71:1165-1175
31. Yang YS, Guo JF, Chen GS, Xie JS, Cai LP, Lin P (2004) Litterfall, nutrient return, and leaf-litter decomposition in four plantations compared with a natural forest in subtropical China. Ann For Sci 61:465-476
32. Zheng Z, Shanmughavel P, Cao LSM, Warren M (2006) Litter decomposition and nutrient release in a tropical seasonal rainforest of Xishuangbanna, southwest China. Biotropica 38:342-347
33. Zhou G, Guan L, Wei X, Zhang D, Zhang Q, Yan J, Wen D, Liu J, Liu S, Huang Z, Kong G, Mo J, Yu Q (2007) Litterfall production along successional and altitudinal gradients of subtropical monsoon evergreen broadleaved forests in Guangdong, China. Plant Ecol 188:77-89