Litter Fall Relations in a Missouri Forest

Abstract

Three year mean values for leaf litter collections (349.1 g m-2 yr-1) in the Ashland Wildlife Area (AWA), an oak-hickory forest in central Missouri, USA, compared favourably with the world latitudinal mean. Leaf litter values from individual plots differed significantly due to compositional and structural variants within the area. Over the whole area Quercus alba L. contributed 33.3 % to the mean leaf litter fall. All oaks combined contributed 57.8 % to the mean leaf litter fall and comprised 58.4 % of the total basal area. Seventy-five percent of the AWA leaf litter falls during October, and the remaining 25 % falls throughout the rest of the year. Annual woody litter production is very sporadic on an individual plot basis in the AWA, varying from 28.8 g m-2 yr-1 to 292.7 g m-2 yr-1. The mean woody litter fall is 107.6 g m-2 yr-1 which is 21.3 % of the total litter fall. Seasonal fall of woody litter is fairly constant throughout the year with a small peak in the autumn. Turnover rates, k values, for both leaf and woody litter (0.347 and 0.234 respectively) show the faster rate of decomposition of leaves.