Nutrient distribution and cycling in a subtropical rainforest in New South Wales
Marcia Lambert A and John Turner A B
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Forsci Pty Ltd, 4.05 Delhi Corporate, 32 Delhi Road, North Ryde, NSW 2113, Australia.
B Corresponding author. Email: john.forsci@gmail.com
Australian Journal of Botany 64(2) 100-110 https://doi.org/10.1071/BT14342
Submitted: 11 December 2014 Accepted: 17 December 2015 Published: 12 February 2016
Abstract
Subtropical rainforests in New South Wales (NSW) are distributed on the more fertile forest soils and are nutritionally distinct from the Eucalyptus forests in the same areas. The distribution, cycling of organic matter and nutrients and nutrient use efficiency in an Australian subtropical rainforest were studied and aspects were compared with reported Eucalyptus studies. The available nutrients were greatly in excess of the stand uptake or requirement. A single undisturbed plot within a research trial in mature forest was selected for the study. At the beginning of the study, the aboveground forest biomass was ~334 t ha–1 of organic matter and, 22 years later, there was 357 t ha–1, giving a net accumulation rate of 1.03 t ha–1 year–1, and net primary productivity of 13.0–14.6 t ha–1 year–1. Litterfall and forest-floor analyses indicated a very rapid turnover of organic matter, with an estimated half-life of ~0.5 years. The quantity of nutrients in the stand was high relative to other forest types in the area, with 1109.2 kg N ha–1, 62 kg P ha–1, 1999 kg Ca ha–1, 591 kg Mg ha–1 and 901 kg K ha–1. Nutrient requirement estimated as nutrient content of the current tissue was estimated to be 107, 5.3, 99, 26 and 61 kg ha–1 year–1 for N, P, Ca, Mg and K, respectively, and uptake defined as removal from the soil was estimated to be 112, 4.7, 128, 37 and 49 kg ha–1 year–1 for the same nutrients, the difference between these being net nutrient redistribution. Nutrient use efficiency (NUE), defined as net primary productivity (NPP) per requirement (t kg–1), was calculated to be 0.12, 2.43, 0.13, 0.50 and 0.21 for N, P, Ca, Mg and K, respectively; these values were low, for example, compared with mature E. pilularis, for which NPP was 0.20, 6.5, 0.43, 1.04 and 0.52 t kg–1 for N, P, Ca, Mg and K, respectively. Using NUE defined as NPP per uptake provided comparable estimates. The rainforest represents a forest growing with basically no nutrient limitations, and, as such, is a benchmark for forest nutrient distribution, cycling and NUE.
Additional keywords: litterfall, Net Primary Productivity, nutrient use efficiency, requirement, uptake.
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