The importance of canopy-derived dissolved and particulate organic matter (DOM and POM) – comparing throughfall solutionfrom broadleaved and coniferous forests

Free Access

Table III

Annual throughfall fluxes (kg ha⁻¹) of DOC, TOC, DN and TN and proportions (%) of DOC and DN in total organic C (TOC) and N (TN).

	DOC	TOC	DN	TN	DOC	DN

	kg ha⁻¹				% from TOC	% from TN
Beech site
2005^a	49.9	55.7	12.7	13.7	89.6	92.7
2006	51.0	72.0	20.6	25.8	70.8	79.8
2007	57.5	82.1	18.9	22.4	70.0	84.4
(2005–2007)/average	52.8	69.9	17.4	20.6	75.5	84.5
Spruce site
2005^a	52.1	59.2*	14.4	16.1*	88.0	89.4
2006	96.4*	113.5*	24.7*	28.2*	84.9	87.6
2007	113.3**	139.9**	27.8**	33.4**	81.0	83.2
(2005–2007)/average	87.3**	104.2**	22.3*	25.9*	83.8	86.1
Beech site
Growing season
2005^a	47.3	53.2	11.8	12.7	88.9	92.9
2006	35.5	55.4	11.9	15.9	64.1	74.8
2007	45.1	63.3	12.9	16.0	71.2	80.6
(2005–2007)/average	42.6	57.3	12.2	14.8	74.3	82.4
Spruce site
Growing season
2005^a	48.9*	55.4*	13.2*	14.6*	88.3	90.4
2006	35.8	45.9*	9.1*	11.8*	78.0	77.2
2007	71.6**	87.5**	16.9*	21.3*	81.8	79.3
(2005–2007)/average	52.1*	62.9*	13.1*	15.9*	82.8	82.4
Beech site
Dormant season
2005^a	2.4	2.5	0.9	1.0	96.0	90.0
2006	15.4	16.6	8.6	8.9	92.8	96.6
2007	12.4	18.8	6.0	6.4	66.0	93.8
(2005–2007)/average	10.1	12.6	5.2	5.4	80.1	96.3
Spruce site
Dormant season
2005^a	3.2	3.9*	1.3*	1.4	82.1	92.9
2006	60.6***	67.6***	15.6**	16.3**	89.6*	95.7
2007	41.7**	52.4**	10.9**	12.0**	79.6	90.8
(2005–2007)/average	35.2**	41.3**	9.3*	9.9*	85.2	93.9

The year 2005 represents throughfall fluxes over 8 months.

DOC = Dissolved Organic Carbon, TOC = Total Organic Carbon, DN = Dissolved Nitrogen, TN = Total Nitrogen. Level of significance (* p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001), indicating differences between beech vs. spruce.