The Structure and Function of Pine Forest in Central Himalaya. I. Dry Matter Dynamics

The present study deals with structure and function of fourareas of Himalayan chir pine forest. Tree layer was monospecificon all sites with varied density and basal cover in the rangeof 540–1630 individuals per ha and 25·0–47·2m²ha^–1, respectively. Shrubs having low density were sparselydistributed. All allometric equations relating to biomass ofdifferent components, to circumference at breast height (cbh)were significant, with the exception of that for cone biomass.Total vegetation biomass (115–236 t ha^–1) was distributedas 113–283 t ha^–1 in trees. 0·56–0·82t ha^–1 in shrubs and 1·63–2·57 t ha^–1in herbs. Total forest floor biomass including herbaceous litterranged between 9·6 and 13·6 t ha^–1. Of thetotal annual litter fall (4·26–7·38 t ha^–1),60·3–75·1 per cent was distributed in leaflitter and 24·9–39·7 per cent in wood litter.Turnover rate of tree litter varied from 0·45 to 0·53,whereas rates for shrubs and herbs were assumed to 1. Net primaryproduction of total vegetation ranged between 9·91 and21·2 t ha^–1 year^–1, of which the contributionof trees, shrubs and herbs was 76·5– 88·1per cent 0·6–1·8 per cent and 11·3–21·5per cent, respectively. A compartment model of dry matter onthe basis of mean data across sites was developed to show drymatter storage and flow of dry matter within the ecosystem. Pinus roxburghii forest, biomass, litter fall, net primary production, compartmental transfer