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Water-holding characteristics of leaf litter from different life-form plants in two habitats.

ZHANG Teng-da, TAO Jian-ping**, WANG Yu-ping   

  1. (School of Life Science, Southwest University, Key Laboratory of Ecoenvironments of Three Gorges Reservoir Region, Ministry of Education, Key Laboratory of Plant Ecology and Resources of Three Gorges Reservoir Region, Chongqing 400715, China)
  • Online:2014-02-10 Published:2014-02-10

Abstract: Water-holding characteristics of fresh leaf litter from three plant life-forms (tree, shrub and herb) were studied in two habitats (limestone and sandstone) in Chongqing. The relationship between water-holding capacity per unit area of leaf litter and immersion time (from 30 min to 24 h) was in line with the logarithmic function model. The waterholding rates of herb leaf litter were the largest in the fast water-holding stage in the two habitats, while the water-holding rates of tree and shrub leaf litter were larger with the increase of immersion time. Leaf litter from the limestone habitat had larger water-holding rates compared to the same leaf litter from the sandstone habitat. The maximum waterholding capacity per unit area was larger for tree, shrub and total species average in the limestone habitat than in the sandstone habitat. The natural moisture contents per unit area of leaf litter for shrub, tree and total species average, as well as the inner water-holding capacities of leaf litter of shrubs and the total species average, were significantly larger in the limestone habitat than in the sandstone habitat. The above-mentioned indicators for herb leaf litter were not significantly different between the two habitats. Overall, the water-holding rates and capacity of leaf litter from the limestone habitat were higher than those from the sandstone habitat, because of the adaptation of plants to different habitats.