Elements Returned to Forest Floor in Two Rainforest and Three Plantation Plots in Tropical Australia

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Abstract
Returns of K, Ca, Mg and Na to the forest floor in rainfall, throughfall, litterfall and branchfall were compared for tropical rainforest and adjacent plantations of Araucaria cunninghamii at 2 sites with contrasting rainfall and soil fertility. At 1 site a plantation of Flindersia brayleyana was also compared. At each site, the input of K was highest in the rainforest plots. The addition of Na was higher at the wetter site, and was mostly derived from rainfall. Estimates of the loss of dry weight and elements from the litter layer, based on the relationship between litterfall and the standing crop of litter on the forest floor, were greater in the rainforest plots than in the Araucaria plantations. The annual rate of litter disappearance (k, the quotient of the annual litterfall to the mean amount of litter on the forest floor) ranged from 0.69 for the Araucaria plot to 1.25 for the rainforest plot at the same site.