Litterfall, nutrient concentrations and decomposability of litter in a New Zealand temperate montane rain forest

New Zealand Journal of Ecology

Volumn 37, Issue 2, 2013, Pages

  Bellingham, Peter J ^a   Morse, Chris W ^a   Buxton, Rowan P ^a   Bonner, Karen I ^a   Mason, Norman W H ^b   Wardle, David A ^c  

^a LANDCARE RESEARCH   (New Zealand)

^b LANDCARE RESEARCH   (New Zealand)

^c SWEDISH UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES   (Sweden)

Author keywords

Altitude; Forest succession; Griselinia littoralis; Kokatahi river valley; Metrosideros umbellata; Pseudowintera colorata; Soil nutrients; Weinmannia racemosa

Indexed keywords

ALTITUDE; CONCENTRATION (COMPOSITION); CORRELATION; DECOMPOSITION; LITTERFALL; MONTANE FOREST; NUTRIENT DYNAMICS; RAINFOREST; SOIL NUTRIENT; SPECIES DIVERSITY; SUCCESSION;

NEW ZEALAND; SOUTH ISLAND;

GRISELINIA LITTORALIS; METROSIDEROS UMBELLATA; PSEUDOWINTERA; PSEUDOWINTERA COLORATA; WEINMANNIA RACEMOSA;

EID: 84878304583     PISSN: 01106465     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (71)

1. Aber J.D., Goodale CL, Ollinger SV, Smith M-L, Magill AH, Martin M.E., Hallett RA, Stoddard JL 2003. Is nitrogen deposition altering the nitrogen status of northeastern forests? BioScience 53: 375-389.
2. Albert C.H., Thuiller W, Yoccoz NG, Soudant A, Boucher F, Saccone P, Lavorel S 2010. Intraspecific functional variability: extent, structure and sources of variation. Journal of Ecology 98: 604-613.
3. Allen R.B., Rose AB 1983. Regeneration of southern rata (Metrosideros umbellata) and kamahi (Weinmannia racemosa) in areas of dieback. Pacific Science 37: 433-442.
4. Allen R.B., Reif A, Hall GMJ 1991. Elevational distribution of conifer-broadleaved forests on South Island, New Zealand. Journal of Vegetation Science 2: 323-330.
5. Bellingham P.J., Lee WG 2006. Distinguishing natural processes from impacts of invasive mammalian herbivores. In: Allen RB, Lee WG eds Biological invasions in New Zealand. Ecological Studies 186. Berlin, Springer. Pp. 323-336.
6. Bellingham P.J., Richardson SJ 2006. Tree seedling growth and survival over 6 years across different microsites in a temperate rain forest. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 36: 910-918.
7. Bellingham P.J., Sparrow AD 2009. Multi-stemmed trees in montane rain forests: their frequency and demography in relation to elevation, soil nutrients and disturbance. Journal of Ecology 97: 472-483.
8. Bellingham P.J., Walker LR, Wardle DA 2001. Differential facilitation by a nitrogen fixing shrub during primary succession influences relative performance of canopy tree species. Journal of Ecology 89: 861-875.
9. Blakemore L.C., Searle PL, Daly BK 1987. Methods for chemical analysis of soils. NZ Soil Bureau Scientific Report 80. Lower Hutt, DSIR. 103 p.
10. Bray J.R., Gorham E 1964. Litter production in forests of the world. Advances in Ecological Research 2: 101-157.
11. Connell J.H. 1978. Diversity in tropical rain forests and coral reefs. Science 199: 1302-1310.
12. Coomes D.A., Allen RB, Scott NA, Goulding C, Beets P 2002. Designing systems to monitor carbon stocks in forests and shrublands. Forest Ecology and Management 164: 89-108.
13. Cornwell W.K., Cornelissen JHC, Amatangelo K, Dorrepaal E, Eviner V.T., Godoy O, Hobbie SE, Hoorens B, Kurokawa H, Pérez-Harguindeguy N, Quested HM, Santiago LS, Wardle D.A., Wright IJ, Aerts R, Allison SD, van Bodegom P, Brovkin V, Chatain A, Callaghan TV, Díaz S, Garnier E, Gurvich DE, Kazakou E, Klein JA, Read J, Reich PB, Soudzilovskaia N.A., Vaieretti MV, Westoby M 2008. Plant species traits are the predominant control on litter decomposition rates within biomes worldwide. Ecology Letters 11: 1065-1071.
14. Cowan P.E., Waddington DC, Daniel MJ, Bell BD 1985. Aspects of litter production in a New Zealand lowland podocarp/broadleaf forest. New Zealand Journal of Botany 23: 191-199.
15. Crews T.E., Kitayama K, Fownes JH, Riley RH, Herbert DA, Mueller-Dombois D, Vitousek PM 1995. Changes in soil phosphorus fractions and ecosystem dynamics across a long chronosequence in Hawaii. Ecology 76: 1407-1424.
16. Dale V.H., Joyce LA, McNulty S, Neilson RP, Ayres MP, Flannigan M.D., Hanson PJ, Irland LC, Lugo AE, Peterson CJ, Simberloff D, Swanson FJ, Stocks BJ, Wotton BM 2001. Climate change and forest disturbances. BioScience 51: 723-734.
17. Davis M.R., Allen RB, Clinton PW 2004. The influence of N addition on nutrient content, leaf carbon isotope ratio, and productivity in a Nothofagus forest during stand development. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 34: 2037-2048.
18. Dent D.H., Bagchi R, Robinson D, Majalap-Lee N, Burslem DFRP 2006. Nutrient fluxes via litterfall and leaf litter decomposition vary along a gradient of soil nutrient supply in a lowland tropical rain forest. Plant and Soil 288: 197-215.
19. Díaz S., Cabido M 2001. Vive la différence: plant functional diversity matters to ecosystem processes. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 16: 646-655.
20. Edmonds R.L., Murray GLD 2002. Overstory litter inputs and nutrient returns in an old-growth temperate forest ecosystem, Olympic National Park, Washington. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 32: 742-750.
21. Enright N.J. 1999. Litterfall dynamics in a mixed coniferangiosperm forest in northern New Zealand. Journal of Biogeography 26: 149-157.
22. Ewel J.J. 1976. Litter fall and leaf decomposition in a tropical forest succession in eastern Guatemala. Journal of Ecology 64: 293-308.
23. Garkoti S.C., Singh SP 1995. Forest floor mass, litterfall and nutrient return in Central Himalayan high latitude forests. Vegetatio 120: 33-48.
24. Girardin C.A.J., Malhi Y, Aragão LEOC, Mamani M, Huaraca Huasco W., Durand L, Feeley KJ, Rapp J, Silva-Espejo JE, Silman M, Salinas N, Whittaker RJ 2010. Net primary productivity allocation and cycling of carbon along a tropical forest elevational transect in the Peruvian Andes. Global Change Biology 16: 3176-3192.
25. Givnish T.J. 2002. Adaptive significance of evergreen vs. deciduous leaves: solving the triple paradox. Silva Fennica 36: 703-743.
26. Grime J.P. 1979. Plant strategies and vegetation processes. Chichester, UK, John Wiley. 222 p.
27. Hall G.M.J., Wiser SK, Allen RB, Beets PN, Goulding CJ 2001. Strategies to estimate national forest carbon stocks from inventory data: the 1990 New Zealand baseline. Global Change Biology 7: 389-403.
28. Hättenschwiler S., Tiunov AV, Scheu S 2005. Biodiversity and litter decomposition in terrestrial ecosystems. Annual Review of Ecology Evolution and Systematics 36: 191-218.
29. Hättenschwiler S., Aeschlimann B, Coûteaux M-M, Roy J, Bonal D. 2008. High variation in foliage and leaf litter chemistry among 45 tree species of a neotropical rainforest community. New Phytologist 179: 165-175.
30. Hawkins B.A., Field R, Cornell HV, Currie DJ, Guégan J-F, Kaufman D.M., Kerr JT, Mittelbach GG, Oberdorff T, O'Brien EM, Porter EE, Turner JRG 2003. Energy, water, and broad-scale geographic patterns of species richness. Ecology 84: 3105-3117.
31. He J-S, Wang X, Schmid B, Flynn DFB, Li X, Reich PB, Fang J 2010. Taxonomic identity, phylogeny, climate and soil fertility as drivers of leaf traits across Chinese grassland biomes. Journal of Plant Research 123:551-561.
32. Henderson R.D., Thompson SM 1999. Extreme rainfalls in the Southern Alps of New Zealand. Journal of Hydrology (NZ) 38: 309-330.
33. Hilton R.G., Meunier P, Hovius N, Bellingham PJ, Galy A 2011. Landslide impact on organic carbon cycling in a temperate montane forest. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 36: 1670-1679.
34. Hyodo F., Kusaka S, Wardle DA, Nilsson M-C 2013. Changes in stable nitrogen and carbon isotope ratios of plants and soil across a boreal forest fire chronosequence. Plant and Soil: doi: 10.1007/s11104-012-1339-8.
35. Kaspari M., Garcia MN, Harms KE, Santana M, Wright SJ, Yavitt J.B. 2008. Multiple nutrients limit litterfall and decomposition in a tropical forest. Ecology Letters 11: 35-43.
36. Kitayama K., Aiba S-I 2002. Ecosystem structure and productivity of tropical rain forests along altitudinal gradients with contrasting soil phosphorus pools on Mount Kinabalu, Borneo. Journal of Ecology 90: 37-51.
37. Köhler L., Hölscher D, Leuschner C 2008. High litterfall in old-growth and secondary upper montane forest of Costa Rica. Plant Ecology 199: 163-173.
38. Lagerström A., Nilsson M-C, Wardle DA 2013. Decoupled responses of tree and shrub leaf and litter trait values to ecosystem retrogression across an island area gradient. Plant and Soil: doi: 10.1007/s11104-012-1159-x.
39. Laughlin D.C., Joshi C, van Bodegom PM. Bastow ZA, Fulé PZ 2012. A predictive model of community assembly that incorporates intraspecific trait variation. Ecology Letters 15: 1291-1299.
40. Lowman M.D. 1988. Litterfall and leaf decay in three Australian rainforest formations. Journal of Ecology 76: 451-465.
41. Malhi Y., Doughty C, Galbraith D 2011. The allocation of ecosystem net primary productivity in tropical forests. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 366: 3225-3245.
42. Mason N.W.H., Carswell FE, Richardson SJ, Burrows LE 2011. Leaf palatability and decomposability increase during a 200-year-old post-cultural woody succession in New Zealand. Journal of Vegetation Science 22: 6-17.
43. O'Neill RV, DeAngelis DL 1981. Comparative productivity and biomass relations of forest ecosystems. In: Reichle DE ed. Dynamic properties of forest ecosystems. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. Pp. 411-449.
44. Ordoñez J.C., van Bodegom PM, Witte J-PM, Wright IJ, Reich PB, Aerts R 2009. A global study of relationships between leaf traits, climate and soil measures of nutrient fertility. Global Ecology and Biogeography 18: 137-149.
45. Paoli G.D., Curran LM, Zak DR 2005. Phosphorus efficiency in Bornean rain forest productivity: evidence against the unimodal efficiency hypothesis. Ecology 86: 1548-1561.
46. Peltzer D.A., Wardle DA, Allison VJ, Baisden WT, Bardgett RD, Chadwick OA, Condron LM, Parfitt RL, Porder S, Richardson SJ, Turner BL, Vitousek PM, Walker J, Walker L.R. 2010. Understanding ecosystem retrogression. Ecological Monographs 80: 509-529.
47. Pérez C.A., Armesto JJ, Torrealba C, Carmona MR 2003. Litterfall dynamics and nitrogen use efficiency in two evergreen temperate rainforests of southern Chile. Austral Ecology 28: 591-600.
48. Raich J.W., Russell AE, Vitousek PM 1997. Primary productivity and ecosystem development along an elevational gradient on Mauna Loa, Hawai'i. Ecology 78: 707-721.
49. Reif A., Allen RB 1988. Plant communities of the steepland conifer-broadleaved hardwood forests of central Westland, South Island, New Zealand. Phytocoenologia 16: 145-224.
50. Richardson S.J., Peltzer DA, Allen RB, McGlone MS 2005. Resorption proficiency along a chronosequence: responses among communities and within species. Ecology 86: 20-25.
51. Richardson S.J., Allen RB, Doherty JE 2008. Shifts in leaf N:P ratio during resorption reflect soil P in temperate rainforest. Functional Ecology 22: 738-745.
52. Röderstein M., Hertel D, Leuschner C 2005. Above-and below-ground litter production in three tropical montane forests in southern Ecuador. Journal of Tropical Ecology 21: 483-492.
53. Shoo L.P., VanDerWal J 2008. No simple relationship between above-ground tree growth and fine-litter production in tropical forests. Journal of Tropical Ecology 24: 347-350.
54. Sundqvist M.K., Giesler R, Wardle DA 2011. Within-and acrossspecies responses of plant traits and litter decomposition to elevation across contrasting vegetation types in subarctic tundra. PLoS ONE 6(10): e27056.
55. Sundqvist M.K., Wardle DA, Olofsson E, Giesler R, Gundale MJ 2012. Chemical properties of plant litter in response to elevation: subarctic vegetation challenges phenolic allocation theories. Functional Ecology 26: 1090-1099.
56. Takyu M., Aiba S-I, Kitayama K 2003. Changes in biomass, productivity and decomposition along topographical gradients under different geological conditions in tropical lower montane forests on Mount Kinabalu, Borneo. Oecologia 134: 397-404.
57. Tanner E.V.J. 1980. Litterfall in montane rain forests of Jamaica and its relation to climate. Journal of Ecology 68: 833-848.
58. Tanner E.V.J., Kapos V, Franco W 1992. Nitrogen and phosphorus fertilization effects on Venezuelan montane forest trunk growth and litterfall. Ecology 73: 78-86.
59. Tanner E.V.J., Vitousek PM, Cuevas E 1998. Experimental investigation of nutrient limitation of forest growth on wet tropical mountains. Ecology 79: 10-22.
60. Tonkin P.J., Basher LR 2001. Soil chronosequences in subalpine superhumid Cropp Basin, western Southern Alps, New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics 44: 37-45.
61. Turner J., Singer MJ 1976. Nutrient distribution and cycling in a sub-alpine coniferous forest ecosystem. Journal of Applied Ecology 13: 295-301.
62. Vitousek P.M. 1984. Litterfall, nutrient cycling, and nutrient limitation in tropical forests. Ecology 65: 285-298.
63. Vitousek P.M., Walker LR, Whiteaker LD, Matson PA 1993. Nutrient limitation to plant growth during primary succession in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Biogeochemistry 23: 197-215.
64. Wardle D.A., Bonner KI, Barker GM 2002. Linkages between plant litter decomposition, litter quality, and vegetation responses to herbivores. Functional Ecology 16: 585-595.
65. Wardle D.A., Hörnberg G, Zackrisson O, Kalela-Brundin M, Coomes DA 2003. Long-term effects of wildfire on ecosystem properties across an island area gradient. Science 300: 972-975.
66. Wardle D.A., Bargdett RD, Walker LR, Bonner KI 2009a. Among-and within-species variation in plant litter decomposition in contrasting long-term chronosequences. Functional Ecology 23: 442-453.
67. Wardle D.A., Bellingham PJ, Bonner KI, Mulder CPH 2009b. Indirect effects of invasive predators on litter decomposition and nutrient resorption on seabirddominated islands. Ecology 90: 452-464.
68. Wardle J.A. 1984. The New Zealand beeches: ecology, utilisation and management. Wellington, New Zealand Forest Service. 447 p.
69. Wells A., Duncan RP, Stewart GH 2001. Forest dynamics in Westland, New Zealand: the importance of large, infrequent earthquake-induced disturbance. Journal of Ecology 89: 1006-1018.
70. Whitehouse I.E. 1988. Geomorphology of the central Southern Alps, New Zealand: the interaction of plate collision and atmospheric circulation. In: Williams PW ed. The geomorphology of plate boundaries and active continental margins. Zeitschrift für Geomorphologie Supplementbände 69. Pp. 105-116.
71. 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 Ecology 188: 77-89.