The maximum stipule litterfall suggests that the flush of new leaves occurred in June (Figure 6A) and subsequently the maximum leaf recruitment was recorded in July (Figure 6B), while both maximum leaf litterfall (Figure 6A) and leaf death (Figure 6B) occurred in July.
The decreased aboveground litterfall suggests that plantations might have decelerated ecosystem nutrient cycling processes in comparison with natural forests.
Soil nitrogen was higher in areas under L. cuneifolia and without BSC cover, suggesting that litterfall inputs currently exceed those from soil crust N2 fixation, perhaps because crust function has not yet recovered.
Changes in litter quantity as a consequence of global climate change are becoming increasingly likely; recent FACE experiments have shown that litterfall increases with elevated atmospheric CO2 concentrations [1] [5] and predicted changes in rainfall distribution patterns [6] and temperature [7] may also affect litterfall by altering leafing phenology.
Systems adjust, and it is unreasonable to imply that litterfall from plants will increase with warming as suggested and remain high, [and] it is also unreasonable to assume that decomposer communities will not adapt to changing dead organic substrates".
We found that pine litter was a significant and even dominant component of litterfall at certain times of the year, typically autumn and winter, when quantities of pine needles falling were up to three times the fall of native leaves.
There are very few reports that describe the contribution of litterfall to total NPP, and reported that litterfall represents up to 30% of the overall NPP (Alongi et al. 2005).
In many mangrove areas, similar findings were observed that peak litterfall occurs during the rainy season (Leach and Burgin 1985; Day et al. 1987) and Flores-Verdugo et al. (1987) reported high litterfall at the end of the dry season.
Thus, says Simpson, as global temperatures warm and more organic matter from litterfall is added to the soil, less of that matter will be in a form that's easily used by microbial decomposers in the soil, including many soil bacteria that are needed to sustain robust plant life.
The isotopic and fluorescence characteristics of Fanno Creek OM indicate that the carbon originates primarily from terrestrial inputs, most likely riparian vegetative biomass that enters the stream via litterfall and overland transport and then travels through the system episodically as a result of hydrologic processes.
