Litter decomposition of Chir-Pine (Pinus roxburghii Sarg.) in the Himalayan region

Abstract

Leaf litter decomposition plays a vital role in managing the health of forests and carbon sequestration. Present study is an attempt to study the needle litter decomposition rates of native pine species -Pinus roxburghii in western Himalaya (Uttarakhand). The results reveals needle weight loss (%) ranged between 92% and 94.4% during the study and varied significantly. The variation is defined in following way, at Site 1 forest (92.9 % to 93.3%), at Site 2 forest (93.2%- 94.4%), at site 3 forest (92.9 % to 93.5%) and at site 4 forest (92 % to 92.2%) across the slopes. The litter decomposed fully after the duration of 780 days as the mean minimal weight remained 0.79 gm. ± 0.003 gm. The maximum litter decomposition was reported at the hill base while the minimum litter decomposition was reported at ridge top. The study shows that as the duration of needle decomposition is fairly long and the slow decomposition is governed by various climatic factors and site specific conditions.

Keywords

• Pine needles
• Litter decomposition
• Forest floor
• Slope
• Aspect variation