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Biomass and nutrient distribution in a 15.5 year old forest growing on a rehabilitated bauxite mine
Author(s) -
WARD S. C.,
KOCH J. M.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
australian journal of ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1442-9993
pISSN - 0307-692X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1442-9993.1996.tb00613.x
Subject(s) - sclerophyll , understory , plant litter , environmental science , litter , biomass (ecology) , nutrient , agronomy , forestry , agroforestry , ecology , biology , geography , canopy , mediterranean climate
Above‐ground biomass and its nutrient content were measured in a 15.5 year old rehabilitated bauxite mine in the jarrah forest of southwest Australia. The litterfall and its nutrient content was also measured on the same site, 4–6 years and 8–10 years after rehabilitation. The total mass of the vegetation and litter was 103t ha −1 , 25% of that in a nearby jarrah forest. The mass of the trees was 58t ha −1 , approximately 22% of that in the jarrah forest. The amount of nitrogen in the soil, in the litter and in the understorey, and in the total system, exceeded that in the nearby jarrah forest. Annual litterfall in the rehabilitated area was comparable to that measured in the jarrah forest and other dry sclerophyll forests. The nitrogen content of the litterfall in the rehabilitated area was around three to four times that in other dry sclerophyll forests.