Original paper
Amount, composition and seasonality of terrestrial litter accession to an Australian cool temperate rainforest stream
Campbell, Ian C.; Fuchshuber, Lilian
Archiv für Hydrobiologie Volume 130 Number 4 (1994), p. 499 - 512
48 references
published: Jun 23, 1994
DOI: 10.1127/archiv-hydrobiol/130/1994/499
ArtNo. ESP141013004007, Price: 29.00 €
Abstract
Terrestrial litter accession to a second order Australian cool temperate rainforest stream was measured over a 15 month period. Total litter accession was a low 310 g m-2 yr-1, with leaves, predominantly of Atherosperma moschatum and Eucalyptus spp., comprising 56.3 % of the total. Green leaves were estimated to make up 19.9 % of the annual leaf fall. Litterfall was seasonal with a summer peak, as is usual in Australia, and with a secondary winter peak probably associated with snow fall. In this study, as in other temperate Australian litterfall studies, the annual pattern of litterfall is markedly less seasonal than in Northern Hemisphere deciduous forests, with 18 % of the annual total entering the stream in winter, the season of least litterfall, compared with about 5 % of the annual load entering Northern Hemisphere deciduous forest streams in winter. In addition green leaves formed a very high proportion (87 %) of the winter leaf fall. The reduced seasonality of stream litter accession, and the high quality of the litter in the season of minimal accession, in Southern Hemisphere evergreen temperate forest streams may permit the less seasonal, poorly synchronized life histories which appear to be widespread amongst Southern Hemisphere stream invertebrates.
Keywords
litter • rainforest • Southern Hemisphere • Australia • green leaves