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cje ›› 2011, Vol. 30 ›› Issue (07): 1429-1434.

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Litter standing biomass and water-holding characteristics in typical primary and secondary forests in karst region of northwest Guangxi.

ZENG Zhao-xia1,3**, LIU Xiao-li2, WANG Ke-lin1,3, ZENG Fu-ping1,3, SONG Tong-qing1,3   

  1. 1Key Laboratory of Agro-Ecological Processes in Subtropical Region, Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changsha 410125, China; 2College of Resources and Environment, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha 410128, China; 3Station of Karst Ecology in Huanjiang, Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Huanjiang 547200, Guangxi, China
  • Online:2011-07-08 Published:2011-07-08

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Abstract: Taking three typical primary forests wing-hackberry (Pteroceltis tatarinowii), Chinese Loropetal (Loropetalum chinensis),  Beautiful Sweetgum (Liquidambar formosana) and three typical secondary forests round-leaved tallow tree (Sapium rotundifolium), Chinese Alangium (Alangium chinense), and NegundoChaste-tree (Vitex negundo) in karst region of northwest Guanxi, Southwest China as test objects, a comparative study was conducted on the litter standing biomass, water-holding capacity, water-holding rate, and water-absorption rate. Among the test forests, Chinese Alangium had the largest dry litter standing biomass (3.3 t·hm-2), followed by round-leaved tallow tree (3.2 t·hm-2) and Beautiful Sweetgum (2.9 t·hm-2), while wing-hackberry had the least one (1.8 t·hm-2). The litter water-holding capacity in different type forests was in the order of Chinese Alangium > China Loropetal > Negundo Chaste-tree > round
-leaved tallow tree > Beautiful Sweetgum > wing-hackberry, and the litter potential water-holding rate in wing-hackberry, China Loropetal, Beautiful Sweetgum, round-leaved tallow tree, Chinese Alangium, and Negundo Chaste-tree forests was 301%, 342%, 224%, 253%, 288%, and 328%, respectively. The litter water-holding capacity and water-holding rate increased logarithmically with the increasing time of immersed in water. The litter water-absorption rate was the largest in China Loropetal forest, followed by in Negundo Chaste-tree, wing-hackberry, Chinese Alangium, and round-leaved tallow tree forests, and in Beautiful Sweetgum forest. The litter water-absorption rate decreased with time. To sum up, in karst region of northwest Guanxi, the litters in secondary forests had a larger water-holding capacity but smaller water-holding and water-absorption rates than primary forests, suggesting that the accumulation of litters in primary forests was of more eco-hydrological significance, compared with that in secondary forests.

Key words: Solar greenhouse, CO2 concentration, Diurnal change, Seasonal change, Spacial distribution