Abstract

ZAPATA DUQUE, Claudia Marcela; RAMIREZ, Jorge Andrés; LEON PELAEZ, Juan Diego  and  GONZALEZ HERNANDEZ, Maria Isabel. FINE LITTER PRODUCTION IN HIGH ANDEAN FORESTS FROM ANTIOQUIA, COLOMBIA. Rev. Fac. Nac. Agron. Medellín [online]. 2007, vol.60, n.1, pp.3771-3784. ISSN 0304-2847.

Litter production was measured over two years in a montane oak forest (Quercus humboldtii) and in pine (Pinus patula) and cypress (Cupressus lusitanica) plantations in Piedras Blancas, Antioquia ( Colombia ). Litter traps were used in order to collect litterfall to be subsequently separated into fractions and weighed. Annual mean litterfall for Q. humboldtii, P. patula and C. lusitanica was of 7877,20; 8362,47 and 3725,97 kg ha^-1year^-1 respectively; being the leaf fraction of highest participation in total production. Multiple linear regression models were used to fit litter production for each fraction and forest cover as a function of different hydrological variables such as intensity and quantity of precipitation, both during the period when the leaf litter was collected and immediately preceding one.

Keywords : Litterfall; tropical montane natural forest; tropical forest plantations; litter; Quercus humboldtii; Pinus patula; Cupressus lusitanica.

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