Litter production and disappearance in a 25-year old hybrid eucalyptus plantation in a siwalik forest of Garhwal Himalaya

摘要

Litter production and decomposition are two important processes which regulate the energy and organic matter return in the forest ecosystem and ultimately balance the nutrients of soil. Various workers have estimated litter production in different tropical dry deciduous forests of the world (Raizada and Srivastava 1986; Pande and Sharma 1986). Litter decomposition is a complex and prolonged process which is influenced by physical and biological factors (Singh and Gupta 1977). The rate at which decomposition proceeds in terrestrial ecosystem is largely regulated by the prevailing climate, and the finer control at local level is determined by resource, quality and factors of edaphic complex (Pandey and Singh 1981).