XI WORLD FORESTRY CONGRESS Antalya, Turkey, 13 to 22 October 1997
	VOLUME 3, TOPIC 12 SUMMARIES OF VOLUNTARY PAPERS MODERATING EFFECT OF TREE STANDS ON SOIL TEMPERATURE FLUCTUATION VIS-A-VIS LITTER ACCUMULATION IN STANDS OF ACACIA AURICULIFORMIS IN PONDICHERRY, INDIA Buvaneswaran,C.1, Jambulingam,R.1 and Parthiban.K.T.1 Soil microclimate plays an important role in plant growth and development and thus in the nature and composition of vegetation. Change in the kind of vegetation in turn affects to a great extent, among other factors, the soil microclimate through the amount of litter produced and accumulated. But in studies on the ecological impact of afforestation on the soil microclimate these aspects are often overlooked. In the present investigation, the interacting effect of litter accumulation and soil temperature were studied in Auroville, Pondicherry both under mixed stands and under a pure stand of Acacia auriculiformis to achieve a better understanding of the effect of change in vegetation on microclimate under forest stands. Pure stands of Acacia auriculiformis, by its higher litter production (14.0 t/ha/yr) and slower decomposition rate ( K=1.62), recorded least daily soil temperature fluctuation both at 5cm (1.3o ) and 10cm (1.2oc) soil depth when compared to mixtures of other species. Hence the role of such pioneer species as Acacia auriculiformis in high litter accumulation could be an important factor where the protective role of trees is the prime objective. Keywords: Trees Stand - Soil Temperature - Litter Accumulation - Acacia auriculiformis. 1 Forest College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Mettupalayam - 641 301, India Previous Section Next Section   Download the Pdf file for this topic (332 K) What is a Pdf file ?   Back to Top of the page
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