Nutrient Accumulation and Distribution of the Aboveground Biomassin a Secondary Subtropical Forest in Central Taiwan

Abstract

The nutrient accumulation and distribution of the aboveground biomass were measured using a stratified harvest method in a secondary hardwood forest in the Guandaushi Long Term Ecological Research site, central Taiwan. Nutrient contents of C, N, P, K, Ca, and Mg in the aboveground biomass were 169,030.71, 2799.77, 52.24, 715.70, 918.72, and 216.41 kg ha^(-1), respectively. Most nutrients in the understory were concentrated below 3.3 m, but in the overstory, they were evenly distributed in each layer below 13.3 m. Although most nutrients accumulated in the stems, the accumulation of N, P, and Ca in the litter layer was higher than in the shrub and herb layer. This result suggested that the litter layer plays an important role in nutrient cycling in Guandaushi secondary hardwood forests. The N content at our research site was quite high compared to that at the Fushan Experimental Forest in northern Taiwan. Factors affecting the nutrient accumulation and allocation in this Guandaushi secondary hardwood forest need to be studied in the future.