Inter- and intra-annual dynamics of vegetation litter at different habitats in Horqin Sandy Land, China.

Abstract

As one of the important pathways of material and energy flow between plant and soil system, litterfall plays a key role in the process of vegetation and soil restoration in ecologically fragile region. To explore the inter- and intra-annual dynamics of litter production and related regulatory factors at different habitats in sandy land ecosystem, we investigated the litter production during nine continuous growing seasons, while the air temperature and precipitation were measured over mobile dune, fixed dune, and grassland in Horqin Sandy Land. The results showed that annual litter production at different habitants were in the order of mobile dune (9.01 g·m-2) ＜ fixed dune (67.46 g·m-2) ＜ grassland (119.55 g·m-2). The inter-annual dynamics of litterfall fluctuated significantly, with a double-peak curve in fixed dune and "W" curve in grassland. The intra-annual variation of litterfall exhibited a "U" curve at all the three habitats, with peaks appearing in April and September, respectively. Precipitation and temperature had significant effects on the intra-annul dynamics of litterfall production in fixed sand dune and grassland, but had no significant effect on the inter-annual dynamics of litter production at three habitats. Temperature was the major factor affecting the dynamics of the litter fall during the growing season in Horqin Sandy Land.