Abstract
Nutrient storage in the forest floor is regulated through litter decomposition and nutrient cycling. Stoichiometry of nutrients can provide characterization of the forest floor. To quantify nutrient storage in the forest floor and to determine stoichiometry among different forest types, available data on nutrients were meta-analyzed. The data on nutrients—nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, and magnesium—were collected from published reports and original data on Japanese forests. The relationship between nutrient storage and forest floor mass was also examined. Japanese cypress and cedar plantations had small N and P storage in the forest floor with high C:N and C:P ratios, whereas subalpine conifers had large N and P storage in the forest floor with low C:N and C:P ratios; cedar plantations showed large Ca-specific storage in the forest floor. The stoichiometry of the forest floor varied between different forest types, namely C:N:P ratios were 942:19:1 for cedar and cypress plantations, 625:19:1 for broad-leaved forests, and 412:13:1 for subalpine conifers and fir plantations. N storage was closely correlated; however, P and other mineral storages were weakly correlated with the forest floor mass. Nutrient storage and stoichiometry can provide a better perspective for the management of forest ecosystem.
Highlights
The forest floor developed over mineral soils includes organic residues—such as leaves, branches, bark, and stems—in various stages of decomposition
The results showed a convergence in litter stoichiometry of the carbon-to-nitrogen (C:N), carbon-to-phosphorus (C:P), and nitrogen-to-phosphorus (N:P) ratios to 30, 450, and 16, respectively, which is equivalent to a C:N:P ratio of 450:16:1, based on P content
Among coniferous forest types, minimum accumulation of forest floor mass occurred in cypress plantations (6.6 Mg ha−1), followed by cedar plantations (9.3 Mg ha−1; Figure 2A, Table S2)
Summary
The forest floor developed over mineral soils includes organic residues—such as leaves, branches, bark, and stems—in various stages of decomposition. There has been a large amount of data summarized on “litter” carbon stock in the recent decades [2,3,4] Apart from providing this vital carbon pool for forest ecosystems, the forest floor serves as critical habitats and food sources for soil fauna and microbes, which play vital roles in litter decomposition [5]. For nutrient cycling in forest ecosystems, the forest floor functions as a nutrient reservoir and chemical buffering layer against acid deposition [9,10,11]. It plays such a pivotal role in ecosystem functioning, nutrient storage within the forest floor is given much less attention in research than that of litter decomposition
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