Table 7. Average litterfall and nutrient return fluxes by contrasting forest types (*). Litterfall and nutrient fluxes show a general increase with decreasing latitude and deciduous species have greater fluxes than coniferous species within a climatic zone.
| Forest Type | n | Litterfall | N | K | Ca | Mg | P |
|---|
| Boreal coniferous | 3 | 322 | 2.9 | 1.1 | 3.8 | 0.3 | 0.7 |
|---|
| Boreal deciduous | 1 | 2645 | 20.2 | 9.8 | 35.5 | 9.7 | 5.2 |
|---|
| Temperate coniferous | 13 | 4377 | 36.6 | 26.1 | 37.3 | 5.6 | 4.4 |
|---|
| Temperate deciduous | 14 | 5399 | 61.4 | 41.6 | 67.7 | 11.0 | 4.0 |
|---|
| Mediterranean deciduous | 2 | 5218 | 52.7 | 36.2 | 76.2 | 7.7 | 5.1 |
|---|
| Tropical | 4 | 7500 | 90.8 | 27.8 | 94.7 | 19.2 | 5.1 |
|---|
(*) Data for borel and temperate forests and one Mediterranean forest from Cole and Rapp (1981); one Mediterranean forest from Dahlgren and Singer (1994); and tropical forests from Edwards (1982).
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