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Volume measurements for quicker determination of forest litter standing crop

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 October 2009

Scott A. Parsons ,
Luke P. Shoo  and
Stephen E. Williams
Scott A. Parsons*
Affiliation:
Centre for Tropical Biodiversity and Climate Change, School of Marine and Tropical Biology, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, 4811Australia
Luke P. Shoo
Affiliation:
Centre for Tropical Biodiversity and Climate Change, School of Marine and Tropical Biology, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, 4811Australia
Stephen E. Williams
Affiliation:
Centre for Tropical Biodiversity and Climate Change, School of Marine and Tropical Biology, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, 4811Australia
*
1Corresponding author. Email: scott.parsons@jcu.edu.au
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Extract

Litter standing crop (LSC) is the quantity of plant detritus on the floor in forested environments. Knowledge of LSC is important in understanding many ecological phenomena. These include studies of litterfall, decomposition/litter turnover rates and nutrient cycling (Anderson et al. 1983, Dent et al. 2006), general plant performance (Benítez-Malvido & Kossmann-Ferraz 1999), other ecosystem processes such as the effects of fire (Odiwe & Muoghalu 2003) and fauna (Frith & Frith 1990, Giaretta et al. 1999, Levings & Windsor 1985). The determination of accurate annual average LSC data, may require monitoring over long periods due to seasonality and sometimes sporadic nature of litterfall and decomposition rates (Clark et al. 2001). Furthermore, the effects of topography and water movement create the need for both representative site selection and sufficient spatial coverage.

Keywords

leaf litterlitter standing cropmethodsvolume
Type
Short Communication
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 25 , Issue 6 , November 2009 , pp. 665 - 669
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

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References

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