The effects of litter displacement on riverbank vegetation
The hypotheses that litter deposition on riverbanks would depend on riverbank features and that litter mass would affect riverbank vegetation were tested by sampling vegetation, litter, and soil along a seventh-order stretch of the unregulated Vindel River in northern Sweden. Sampling was carried ou...
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crcansciencepubl:10.1139/b90-097 2023-12-17T10:47:33+01:00 The effects of litter displacement on riverbank vegetation Nilsson, Christer Grelsson, Gunnel 1990 http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/b90-097 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/b90-097 en eng Canadian Science Publishing http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining Canadian Journal of Botany volume 68, issue 4, page 735-741 ISSN 0008-4026 Plant Science journal-article 1990 crcansciencepubl https://doi.org/10.1139/b90-097 2023-11-19T13:39:21Z The hypotheses that litter deposition on riverbanks would depend on riverbank features and that litter mass would affect riverbank vegetation were tested by sampling vegetation, litter, and soil along a seventh-order stretch of the unregulated Vindel River in northern Sweden. Sampling was carried out within a horizontal litter gradient at the top of the riverbank where most of the litter deposition occurs. The amount of leaf litter left on the riverbank after flooding was significantly correlated (P < 0.05) with soil organic matter. In contrast, wood litter mass and total litter mass were not correlated (P > 0.05) with riverbank features such as soil organic matter, riverbank slope, or stem density. Species richness, species diversity, and the proportions of stemmed and nonstemmed species showed quadratic relationships (P < 0.05) with leaf litter mass, whereas ground vegetation cover decreased monotonically (P < 0.05) with increasing leaf litter mass. Tall, stemmed species were most frequent at eroded sites with low amounts of leaf litter and at sites where leaf litter had accumulated. In contrast, the highest proportion of low-growing species was found at sites with intermediate leaf litter masses. Community characteristics such as species richness, species diversity, and the proportions of stemmed and nonstemmed species (but not ground vegetation cover) were less strongly correlated with wood litter mass and total litter mass. Linear equations explained about half of the variation in ground vegetation cover along gradients of wood and total litter masses. Density and richness of seeds increased with increasing litter mass. We discuss the litter effects in terms of productivity and disturbance and conclude that flooding in pristine rivers may exert a considerable influence on riverbank vegetation as a result of litter displacement. Article in Journal/Newspaper Northern Sweden Canadian Science Publishing (via Crossref) Canadian Journal of Botany 68 4 735 741 |
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Canadian Science Publishing (via Crossref) |
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crcansciencepubl |
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English |
topic |
Plant Science |
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Plant Science Nilsson, Christer Grelsson, Gunnel The effects of litter displacement on riverbank vegetation |
topic_facet |
Plant Science |
description |
The hypotheses that litter deposition on riverbanks would depend on riverbank features and that litter mass would affect riverbank vegetation were tested by sampling vegetation, litter, and soil along a seventh-order stretch of the unregulated Vindel River in northern Sweden. Sampling was carried out within a horizontal litter gradient at the top of the riverbank where most of the litter deposition occurs. The amount of leaf litter left on the riverbank after flooding was significantly correlated (P < 0.05) with soil organic matter. In contrast, wood litter mass and total litter mass were not correlated (P > 0.05) with riverbank features such as soil organic matter, riverbank slope, or stem density. Species richness, species diversity, and the proportions of stemmed and nonstemmed species showed quadratic relationships (P < 0.05) with leaf litter mass, whereas ground vegetation cover decreased monotonically (P < 0.05) with increasing leaf litter mass. Tall, stemmed species were most frequent at eroded sites with low amounts of leaf litter and at sites where leaf litter had accumulated. In contrast, the highest proportion of low-growing species was found at sites with intermediate leaf litter masses. Community characteristics such as species richness, species diversity, and the proportions of stemmed and nonstemmed species (but not ground vegetation cover) were less strongly correlated with wood litter mass and total litter mass. Linear equations explained about half of the variation in ground vegetation cover along gradients of wood and total litter masses. Density and richness of seeds increased with increasing litter mass. We discuss the litter effects in terms of productivity and disturbance and conclude that flooding in pristine rivers may exert a considerable influence on riverbank vegetation as a result of litter displacement. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Nilsson, Christer Grelsson, Gunnel |
author_facet |
Nilsson, Christer Grelsson, Gunnel |
author_sort |
Nilsson, Christer |
title |
The effects of litter displacement on riverbank vegetation |
title_short |
The effects of litter displacement on riverbank vegetation |
title_full |
The effects of litter displacement on riverbank vegetation |
title_fullStr |
The effects of litter displacement on riverbank vegetation |
title_full_unstemmed |
The effects of litter displacement on riverbank vegetation |
title_sort |
effects of litter displacement on riverbank vegetation |
publisher |
Canadian Science Publishing |
publishDate |
1990 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/b90-097 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/b90-097 |
genre |
Northern Sweden |
genre_facet |
Northern Sweden |
op_source |
Canadian Journal of Botany volume 68, issue 4, page 735-741 ISSN 0008-4026 |
op_rights |
http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1139/b90-097 |
container_title |
Canadian Journal of Botany |
container_volume |
68 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
735 |
op_container_end_page |
741 |
_version_ |
1785571448079777792 |