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Aboveground biomass and nutrient distribution patterns of larch plantation in a montane region of eastern Liaoning Province, China.

YAN Tao1,2,3, ZHU Jiao-jun1,2, YANG Kai1,2, YU Li-zhong1,2   

  1. (1State Key Laboratory of Forest and Soil Ecology, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110164, China; 2Qingyuan Experimental Station of Forest Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, China; 3University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China)
  • Online:2014-10-18 Published:2014-10-18

Abstract: Larch is the main timber species of forest plantations in North China. Imbalance in nutrient cycling in soil emerged due to single species composition and mono system structure of plantation. Thus it is necessary to grasp its biomass and nutrients allocation for scientific management and nutrient cycling studies of larch plantation. We measured aboveground biomass (stem, branch, bark and leaf) and nutrient concentrations (C, N, P, K, Ca, Mg, Fe, Mn, Cu and Zn), and analyzed the patterns of accumulation and distribution of 19-year-old larch plantation with diameter at breast height  of 12.8 cm, tree height of 15.3 m, and density of 2308 trees·hm-2, in a montane region of eastern Liaoning Province, China. The results showed that aboveground biomass values were 70.26 kg and 162.16 t·hm-2 for the individual tree of larch and the stand, respectively. There was a significant difference between biomass of the organs, and decreased in the order of stem > branch > bark > leaf. Nutrient accumulation was 749.94 g and 1730.86 kg·hm-2 for the individual tree of larch and the stand, respectively. Nutrient accumulation of stem was significantly higher than that of branch, bark and leaf, whether it was macronutrient or micronutrient. Averagely, 749.94 g nutrient elements would be removed from the system when a 19-year-old larch tree was harvested. If only the stem part was removed from the system, the removal of nutrient elements could be reduced by 40.7%.