Object structure
Title:

Processes of litter fall and decomposition: boreal-temperate transect studies of pine ecosystems

Subtitle:

Litter fall and decomposition along pine forests transect ; Patterns of pine ecosystem response to climate on a boreal-temperate transect

Creator:

Breymeyer, Alicja

Contributor:

Polish Academy of Sciences. Institute of Ecology

Publisher:

Polish Academy of Sciences. Institute of Ecology. Publishing Office

Place of publishing:

Dziekanów Leśny

Date issued/created:

2003

Description:

Pages 529-543 : illustrations ; 27 cm ; Bibliographical references (pages 542-543)

Type of object:

Journal/Article

Subject and Keywords:

litter production-decomposition ; effect of climate warming ; pine ecosystem functioning ; OM accumulation

Abstract:

The processes of litter production and decomposition were studied in pine and mixed pine forests (10 sites) distributed along the N-S transect in Europe. The transect stretched from 70°N in Northern Finland and Norway to 50°N in Southern Poland. Mean annual temperatures change regularly along the transect from -1.9 to +7.4°C, while precipitation does not show any distinct pattern. Annual production and decomposition of litter are stimulated by wanning. The primary factors governing the rates of both processes are related to thermic regime, most frequently to the long-term temperatures registered in the meteorological stations in the vicinity of sites. Correlation between decomposition rate and temperature (R2) range from 0.75 to 0.93, between decomposition rate and latitude from 0.72 to 0.80, and between decomposition rate and precipitation from 0.52 to 0.63 (in the last case only correlations with long-term precipitation are significant). Correlation coefficients R2 between litterfall and temperature range from 0.53 to 0.80, between litterfall-latitude from 0.72 to 0.80, and between litterfall-precipitation from 0.52 to 0.63 (significant only for long-term precipitation). With increasing temperature decomposition rates increase from about 0.09 g.g-1.y-1 (needles 0.13 g.g-1.y-1, wood 0.06 g.g-1.y-1) in the North to about 0.32 g.g-1.y-1 (needles 0.41 g.g-1.y-1, wood 0.18 g.g-1.y-1) in the South. Litterfall increases from 103.19 g.m-2.y-1 (in this needles 56.73 g.m-2.y-1, wood 45.59 g.m-2.y-1) in the North, to about419.36 g.m-2.y-l (needles 203.95 g.m-2.y-l, wood 203.56 g.m-2.y-1) in the South. OM annual accumulation increases southward, ranging from about 100 (North) to about 370 (South) grams per m2. Accumulation is strongly connected with air temperatures on the sites (correlation coefficients (R2) at around 0.9).

References:

Berg B., Berg M. P., Bottner P., Box E., Breymeyer A., Calvo de Santa R., Couteaux M., Escudero A., Gallardo A., Kratz W., Madeira M., Malkonen E., McCiaugherty C., Meentemeyer V., Munoz F., Piussi P., Remacle J. and Virzo de SantoA. 1993 - Litter mass loss rates in pine forests of Europe and the eastern United States: some relationships with climate and litter quality. - Biogeochemistry 20. Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in The Netherlands: 17-159.
Berg B., Ekbohm G. 1991 - Litter mass-loss rates and decomposition patterns in some needle and leaf litter types. Long-term decomposition in a Scots pine forest. - VII. Can. J. Bot. 69: 1449-1456.
Berg B., Jansson P-E., Meentemeyer V. 1984 - Litter decomposition and climate - regional and local models. (In: State and Change of Forest Ecosystems. Indicators in Current Research. Ed: Agren G.I.) - Swed. Univ. Agric. Sci. Dept Ecology & Environmental Research, Report no. 13: 389-404.
Breymeyer A. 1991a - Search for geographic scale regularities in ecosystem processes. (In: Modem Ecology: Basic and Applied Aspects. Eds: EsserG. and Overdieck D.) - Elsevier, Amsterdam, 751-771.
Breymeyer A. 1991b - Comparative analysis of organic matter transformations in coniferous forests in Europe. (In: Coniferous Forest Ecology from an International Perspective. Eds: NakagoshiN. and Golley, F.B. ) - SPB Academic Publishing, The Hague, 161-177.
Breymeyer A. 2003 - Pine ecosystem response to warming along North-South climatic transect in Europe: Presentation of research project - Pol. J. Ecol. 51 , 4:403-411.
Cichocka M., Sapek-Dźwigała A. 2002 - Oznaczenie ligniny w materiale roślinnym (szyszki, igliwie) [Measurement of lignin content in the plant material (cones, needles)].- Study carried out at the commission from the Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Poznan, 7 pp. (in Polish)
Degórski M. 2003 - Morpholithological genesis and soil properties of the pine forest ecosystems in relation to the North-South transect in Europe - Pol. J. Ecol. 51,4:441-459.
Dyer M. L. 1986 - A model of organic decomposition rates based on climate and litter properties. - M.A.Thesis, Univ. of Georgia, Athens, GA.
Koch G. W., Scholes R. J., Steffen P. M., Vitousek P. M. and Walker B. H., (Eds) 1995, The IGBP Terrestrial Transects: Science Plan. - The International Geosphere-Biosphere Program: A Study of Global Change. Report No. 36. Stockholm.
Linder S., McMurtrie R. E., Landsberg J. J. 1996 - Linked pest-crop models under global change. (In: Global Change and Terrestrial Ecosystems. Eds: Walker B., Steffen W.) - Cambridge University Press, New York, 291 -316.
McClaugherty C., Berg B. 1987 - Cellulose, lignin and nitrogen levels as rate regulating factors in late stages of forest litter decomposition - Pedobiologia 30: 101-112.
Meentemeyer V. 1978 - Macroclimate and lignin control of litter decomposition rates - Ecology 59: 465-471.
Meentemeyer V. 1984 - The geography of organic decomposition rates - Ann. Assoc. Am. Geogr. 74: 465-472.
Meentemeyer V. and Berg B. 1986 - Regional variation in mass-loss of Pinus sylvestris needle litter in Swedish pine forests as influenced by climate and litter quality. - Scandinavian Journal of Forest Research 1: 167-180.
Mooney H. A. 1991 - Biological response to climate change: an agenda for research. - Ecol. Applications I (2): 112-117.
Solon J. 2003 - Scots pine forests of the Vaccinio-Piceetea class in Europe: forest sites studied - Pol. J. Ecol. 51, 4: 421-439

Relation:

Polish Journal of Ecology

Volume:

51

Issue:

4

Start page:

529

End page:

543

Resource type:

Text

Detailed Resource Type:

Article

Source:

MiIZ PAN, call no. P.2840 ; click here to follow the link

Language:

eng

Language of abstract:

Rights:

Creative Commons Attribution BY 3.0 PL license

Terms of use:

Copyright-protected material. [CC BY 3.0 PL] May be used within the scope specified in Creative Commons Attribution BY 3.0 PL license, full text available at: ; -

Digitizing institution:

Museum and Institute of Zoology of the Polish Academy of Sciences

Original in:

Library of the Museum and Institute of Zoology of the Polish Academy of Sciences

Projects co-financed by:

Operational Program Digital Poland, 2014-2020, Measure 2.3: Digital accessibility and usefulness of public sector information; funds from the European Regional Development Fund and national co-financing from the state budget.

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