Litterfall, decomposition and nutrient release in a lowland tropical rain forest, Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea

Abstract

The analysis of litter quantity, litter decomposition and its pattern of nutrient release is important for understanding nutrient cycling in forest ecosystems. Plant growth and maintenance are partly met through nutrient cycling (O'Connell & Sankaran 1997) which is dominated by litter production and decomposition. Litter fall is a major process for transferring nutrients from above-ground vegetation to soils (Vitousek & Sanford 1986), while decomposition of litter releases nutrients (Maclean & Wein 1978). The rate at which nutrients are recycled influences the net primary productivity of a forest. Knowledge of these processes from tropical rain forests is relatively poor (O'Connell & Sankaran 1997), and in particular there are no known published studies on nutrient cycling from lowland tropical forests in Papua New Guinea. The few studies from Papua New Guinea are confined to the mid-montane forest zone (Edwards 1977, Edwards & Grubb 1982, Enright 1979, Lawong et al. 1993).