Ilek, A.; Błońska, E.; Miszewski, K.; Kasztelan, A.; Zborowska, M. Investigating Water Storage Dynamics in the Litter Layer: The Impact of Mixing and Decay of Pine Needles and Oak Leaves. Forests2024, 15, 350.
Ilek, A.; Błońska, E.; Miszewski, K.; Kasztelan, A.; Zborowska, M. Investigating Water Storage Dynamics in the Litter Layer: The Impact of Mixing and Decay of Pine Needles and Oak Leaves. Forests 2024, 15, 350.
Ilek, A.; Błońska, E.; Miszewski, K.; Kasztelan, A.; Zborowska, M. Investigating Water Storage Dynamics in the Litter Layer: The Impact of Mixing and Decay of Pine Needles and Oak Leaves. Forests2024, 15, 350.
Ilek, A.; Błońska, E.; Miszewski, K.; Kasztelan, A.; Zborowska, M. Investigating Water Storage Dynamics in the Litter Layer: The Impact of Mixing and Decay of Pine Needles and Oak Leaves. Forests 2024, 15, 350.
Abstract
Little is known about how the degree of mixing of forest-forming species affects forest floor hydrology. We evaluated the water storage capacity of the resulting litter layer by mixing litterfall of Scots pine and sessile oak and studying their decomposition time. We prepared 90 artificial samples containing pure pine litter, pure oak litter, and mixed pine-oak litter with varying shares of pine needles. These samples were subjected to 15 months of decomposition in soil. After every three months of decay, some samples were removed from the soil, and their water storage capacity, bulk density, and C:N ratio were evaluated. Our findings indicate that samples with the greatest water storage capacity had a low C:N ratio and a predominant share of oak leaves. Conversely, samples with a high C:N ratio and a predominant share of pine needles had the lowest water storage capacity. After 12 and 15 months of decomposition, the water storage capacity increased by more than 52% compared to the initial water capacity of the samples. The highest increase in water storage capacity (>40%) was observed in samples with a predominant share of oak leaves, while the lowest (approximately 28%) was recorded in samples with 80 and 100% of pine needles.
Keywords
forest hydrology; forest floor; pine-oak mixed forest; water properties; C:N ratio
Subject
Biology and Life Sciences, Forestry
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
