Litter decomposition in tree plantations: the role of the distance to the native forest

GATTI, M.G.; ZANINOVICH, S.C.; ZURITA, G.A.

Buenos Aires

Simposio; 32º New Phytologist Symposium; 2013

New Phytologist Trust, Universidad Católica Argentina

decomposition of a given substrate (the substrate quality?matrix quality interaction hypothesis, SMI). In a pine plantation the detritus quality changes from native forest edge into the plantation and, consequently, the quality of the matrix layer also changes. In order to evaluate the distance effects in litter decomposition rates we performed a pine decomposition experiment. We work in 5 pine plantations and neighboring native forests, and we quantify pine decomposition by incubating 420 litter bags at 10 different distances from the edge (0, 5, 10, 15, 30, 50, 100, 150, 200 and 300 m) and 6 times (1, 3, 6, 9, 12, 18 months). We present results from the two first collections (1 and 3 m): pine litter lost an average of 18% and 27% of biomass respectively, and no differences were detected along the distance gradient, however some tendencies of increased pine litter decomposition in the plantation interior are emerging. These results could represent evidences supporting the SMI hypothesis and could be related to changes in decomposer communities, but other factors such as microclime could be also changing the plantation.