Vegetation and litter production in Southern Guinea savanna, Nigeria
- 1 January 1977
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Springer Nature in Oecologia
- Vol. 28 (2), 163-175
- https://doi.org/10.1007/bf00345252
Abstract
This study examines the woody vegetation, annual leaf-fall and annual wood-fall in Southern Guinea savanna near Mokwa, Nigeria. There were 1425±402 (95% limits) trees ha-1 of which Caesalpiniaceous legumes made up 53%. Annual leaf-fall was 2.387 t ha-1 a-1 equivalent to 11,238,932 kcal ha-1 a-1 and was highly seasonal, peaking from November to February, with a maximum in January after the annual bush fires. Annual wood-fall was 1.391 t ha-1 a-1 equivalent to 7,598,256 kcal ha-1 a-1 and was less seasonal but with two peaks, one from January to March after the fires and another from May to July in the rainy season. The litter-fall data currently available from West Africa are reviewed and indicate a negative correlation between litterfall and latitude (PP<0.001) and it is suggested that seasonal distribution of rainfall may also be a factor contributing to the limits of litter production.This publication has 10 references indexed in Scilit:
- Field investigations on the decomposition of leaves of Eucalyptus delegatensis in relation to environmental factorsPedobiologia, 1974
- Accumulation and Decay of Litter and Net Production of Forest in Tropical West AfricaOikos, 1973
- Leaf-Fall in a Tropical Rain ForestJournal of Applied Ecology, 1970
- Vegetation of the Olokemeji Forest Reserve, Nigeria: IV. The Litter and Soil with Special Reference to Their Seasonal ChangesJournal of Ecology, 1966
- Vegetation of the Olokemeji Forest Reserve, Nigeria: II. The Climate with Special Reference to its Seasonal ChangesJournal of Ecology, 1965
- Leaf Fall and Litter Disappearance in a Tropical ForestPedobiologia, 1965
- Litter Production in Forests of the WorldPublished by Elsevier ,1964
- Organic matter and nutrient cycles under moist tropical forestPlant and Soil, 1960
- COMPARATIVE STUDY OF DECOMPOSITION RATES OF ORGANIC MATTER IN TEMPERATE AND TROPICAL REGIONSSoil Science, 1949
- Ecological Studies on the Rain Forest of Southern Nigeria: I. The Structure and Floristic Composition of the Primary ForestJournal of Ecology, 1939