Impact of ice-snow damage on nutrient distribution of a Cunninghamia lanceolata woodland

During January to February in 2008, severe ice-snows occurred on 2.09 × 106 km2 of south China and caused tremendous damage to the forests. Stem damage and crown debris input from the ice-snow in a Cunninghamia lanceolata stand in northern Guangdong Province, China, were investigated to determine the extent of ice-snow damage to trees and the nutrient distribution characteristics on woodland. Icicles were produced on branches and leaves of the C. lanceolata trees by sleets, resulting in all live trees were damaged by stem breakage. A strong positive correlation was found between the broken position of trees and diameter at breast height (DBH). Nutrient concentrations varied according to components of crown debris. Total nutrient concentration graded in the following order: leaves > stembark > branches > stemwood. Crown debris input from ice-snows was 19.11 t·ha-2, and branches, stemwood, leaves and stembark accounted for 37%, 28%, 27% and 8%, respectively. Nutrient distributions between components of crown debris differed drastically in 2008. The contribution of leaves to total nutrient accumulation of crown debris was 70%, whereas branches, stemwood and stembark contributed 13%, 7% and 10%, respectively. Accumulations of N, P and K by the woodland were 105 067.9 t·ha-2 in 2008, and the nutrients of crown debris, litter and the stand soil accounted for 0.18%, 0.03% and 99.79%, respectively. The order of nutrient accumulation in leaves, branches, stembark, stemwood of crown debris and litter was N>K>P, but the nutrients stored in the soil were in the order of K > N > P. The N and P concentrations of litter in 2009 were greater than those in 2008, whereas its K concentration was smaller than that of the latter. N and P concentrations of stemwood and stembark in 2009 were slightly greater than those in 2009, whereas their K concentration was smaller than the latter. The N and P accumulations of stemwood and stembark of crown debris in 2009 were close to those in 2008, whereas their K accumulation was slightly smaller than the latter. The N, P and K accumulations of litter in 2009 was greater than those in 2008. © 2010 Northeast Forestry University and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.