Assessment of Annual Litterfall of Woody Plant Community in Southern Thorn Forest, Tirunelveli, Peninsular India

The biological phenomenon, litterfall acts as a connection between tree canopy and substratum of the habitats, influencing the concentration of vital soil nutrients thereby contributing to the tree growth and forest productivity. Information on litter generation of tropical forests including tropical thorn forest is lacking. Therefore, the current study was conducted to find annual litterfall of tree community existing within a Reserve Forest in Tirunelveli, India. A field ecological study was carried out to find annual litter production of woody plant community. Litter traps were kept randomly across the forest to assess the litter production. The litter fallen in each trap was collected separately on monthly basis for one calendar year. The collected litter was separated in to four different classes viz., leaf, wood, amorphous and reproductive organs. The relationship of climatic variables with litterfall was estimated by Pearson’s simple correlation test. The annual litter generation of the study area was estimated at 8.058 tons ha-1 y-1. The amount of total fallen and four classes litter per month varied significantly. In addition, litterfall did not show any significant relationship with the mean monthly temperature (p = 0.128; r2= 0.216) and monthly rainfall (p = 0.817; r2 = 0.0056). The deciduous species accounted for 95% (3.449 tons ha-1) of total annual leaf litterfall. Among four litter classes, the leaf litter accounted for 45.05%. The quantity of annual litterfall recorded from present study area is comparable with other tropical dry forests. The present study concentrated on limited forest areas, further studies with larger study area are needed to quantify the actual annual litter generation of southern thorn forests flourishing in various districts of Tamil Nadu.