Litter amount and its water-holding properties of the main types of forest communities in the upper reaches of Mingjiang River

In order to qualify the eco-hydrological effects of the subalpine forest,the dynamic changes of three types of typical subalpine forest communities such as Quercus aquifolioide forest,Shrub-bamboo forest and Abies faxonian forest was investigated.The main results showed: 1) The litter accumulation of three types of forests varied from 10.00 t/hm2 to 25.20 t/hm2,the descending order is Abies faxoniana forest,Quercus aquifolioides and shrub-bamboo forest as both in May and July,and Quercus aquifolioides,Abies faxoniana forest and shrub-bamboo forest in September.The annual litter amount of Quercus aquifolioides forest is 391.5 kg/hm2 and 1 019.6 kg/hm2 more than Abies faxoniana forest and shrub bamboo forest respectively.2) The descending order of saturated water-holding capacity of litter is Abies faxoniana forest,Quercus aquifolioides and shrub-bamboo forest.3) The regression relationship between water-holding capacity,water-absorption velocity of litter and immerse time is logarithmic and exponential,respectively.The maxium velocity occurred during the first 5 immersing minutes,then decreased gradually,and fell to zero after 24 h.