Open Access

ARTICLE

Nutrient characteristics of throughfall and stemflow in the natural forest of Pinus densata in the Tibetan plateau

Lu J^1,2, SX Zhang^1*, JP Fang², WL Zheng²

1 College of Forestry, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China.
2 Agricultural and Animal Husbandry College, Tibet University, Linzhi 860000, China.

Address correspondence to: SX Zhang, Tel/Fax: +86-29-87082993, e-mail:

Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany 2016, 85(all), 142-148. https://doi.org/10.32604/phyton.2016.85.142

Abstract

Precipitation, throughfall and stemflow were monitored and collected through the rainy season on a natural forest ecosystem of Pinus densata in the Gongbu Nature Reserve in Tibet. The concentrations of N, P, K, Na, Ca, Mg, Si, Mn, Fe, S, Zn and Cu were analyzed in the precipitation, throughfall and stemflow waters, Thereafter, and according to the amount of water of precipitation, throughfall and stemflow, the net input was calculated for each nutrient in the forest. The results showed that: (1) During the entire rainy season, the average concentration of different nutrients in the precipitation of the Pinus densata forest was ranked in the following order: N>K>Na>Ca>Mg>Si>P>Mn>Fe>S>Zn>Cu. The concentration of N 29.6145 mg/L, and that of Cu was only 0.1017 mg/L. (2) The average concentration of these nutrients in throughfall followed the order: N>Na>Ca>K>Mg>Si>P>Mn>Fe>S>Zn>Cu. The highest concentration was 11.2843 mg/L for N, and the lowest was only 0.0937 mg/L for Cu; the difference between the two was 120.4 times. (3) The order of N>K>Ca>Na>Mg>Zn>P>Si>Mn>Fe>Cu>S was found for the nutrient concentration in stemflow. The concentration of N (20.5096 mg/L) was 105.2 times higher than that of the lowest nutrient (S: 0.1949 mg/L). (4) As a whole, every nutrient was quite different on average for the stemflow, throughfall and precipitation. The concentration of Na, Ca, Mg and Zn followed ste mflow>throughfall>precipitation. During the entire rainy season, the net input (kg/hm²) of nutrients in the Pinus densata forest was Na>Si>Ca>Mg>K>Zn>Fe>S>Cu>P>Mn>N, and the net input of N was negative.

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