Federer Chronosequence: Litterfall Biomass and Chemistry; 1993-1997, 2003-2006

The project reports the flux of biomass and nutrients in leaf litterfall in 14 stands (the “Federer Chronosequence”) of northern hardwood forests. These 14 stands are located in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Monitoring occurred from August 1993 through summer 1997 and again from August 2003 through summer 2006.
The litterfall year is defined as starting in August (when we first set out baskets) and ending in August of the following year, years are named by the fall (in which most litter falls). In some years, we have litter mass by basket (3 per transect): 1993, 1994, 1995, 2003, 2005. In other years, we have only transect means: 1996, 2004. Seasonal masses are provided for 2005. Litterfall was sorted by species in all years except for 2005. Twig mass is reported only for 2005. Litter chemistry was measured in fresh litter samples collected in the same stands from 1994 through 2004.
Raw, unedited data sorted by season can be found in “Other Entities”, though note the substantial changes that occurred between these values and the processed values published in this dataset.

These data were gathered as part of the Hubbard Brook Ecosystem Study (HBES). The HBES is a collaborative effort at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest, which is operated and maintained by the USDA Forest Service, Northern Research Station.

Related publications:
Yanai, R. D., Arthur, M. A., Acker, M., Levine, C. R., & Park, B. B. (2012). Variation in mass and nutrient concentration of leaf litter across years and sites in a northern hardwood forest. Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 42(8), 1597-1610.
Acker, M. 2006.Base cation concentration and content in litterfall and woody debris across a northern hardwood forest chronosequence. MS Thesis. Lexington, KY: University of Kentucky.
Yang, Y., Yanai, R. D., See, C. R., & Arthur, M. A. (2017). Sampling effort and uncertainty in leaf litterfall mass and nutrient flux in northern hardwood forests. Ecosphere, 8(11), e01999.