Litterfall in the Semideciduous Seasonal Forest in Southern Brazil

Litterfall and nutrient cycling are essential processes for the forest diversity and productivity maintenance. This study aims to characterize the litterfall and evaluate if it has correlations with climatic variables in the Semideciduous Seasonal Forest on advanced succession stage, in Southern Brazil. During the 2007-2010 period, the litterfall was collected every month, sorted into leaves, twigs, and miscellaneous fractions. The litterfall amount average was 7.75 Mg ha(-1) year(-1) and leaves constituted the highest litterfall percentage (75.0%), followed by twigs (14.7%), and miscellaneous (10.3%). Higher leaf amounts were recorded in August and September. The minimum air temperature was negatively correlated with the leaves and twigs production, that is, the litterfall amount increases when the air temperature decreases. The litterfall amount corresponds to values expected to advanced successional stage of the forest typology studied. In Semideciduous Seasonal Forest in Southern Brazil, the thermal stress exerts influence on the litterfall amount.