Litter Dynamics and Its Relationship with Meteorological Factors in Castanopsis carlesii Forest Community in Wuyi Mountain

To explore the relationship between the dynamics of forest litter production and meteorological factors. In Castanopsis carlesii forest community in Wuyi Mountain, we have monitored forest litter production and meteorological factors for 4 years from 2016 to 2019, and explored seasonal pattern of litter production and its driving factors. The findings indicated that the average annual litter production of C. carlesii forest was(487.24 ± 11.63) g/(m²·a), in which leaf litter accounted for 77.03% ± 1.93% of the total litter, followed by twig and fragment litter, and reproductive organ litter only accounted for 1.15% ± 0.17%, indicating that leaf litter was the dominant component in C. carlesii forest litters. Seasonal patterns of total litter and leaf litter displayed a bimodal curve in this C. carlesii forest, and the peak value and the sub-peak value appeared in April and November, respectively. The peak values of twigs and fragment litter appeared 3 times within a year, and their valley values appeared in August. Reproductive organs litter was mainly concentrated in 2 periods from April to July and from October to December, associated with tree phenological rhythm. Litter components displayed the significant correlations, except for between reproductive organ litter and leaf, twig litter. Monthly litter productions were significantly correlated with precipitation, daily maximum precipitation and solar radiation in monitoring month, but had no significant correlation with air temperature and wind speed in monitoring month. However, litter productions were significantly positively correlated with maximum, minimum and average air temperature before 2-4 months. Therefore, data analyses on long-term forest litter production dynamics have important implications for better understanding the variations in forest ecosystems function under climate changes.