Quantifying litterfall and its carbon and nitrogen content in Beverly swamp

This litterfall weight and their carbon to nitrogen ratio (C:N) contents were measured as part of Veronica Santia’s undergraduate program (Senior Honors Thesis) at the Faculty of Environment, University of Waterloo under the supervision of Professor Maria Strack. The purpose of the research was to quantify the litterfall deposit of temperate swamps and their carbon to nitrogen contents towards assessing their role in the ecosystem’s carbon cycling process. In particular, litter collection surveys surveys were conducted during September and October 2022 at Beverly Swamp (43.366N, 80.12W). Swamp litterfall quantity was obtained with 50cm x 50cm wooden litter traps and 1m long wooden stakes with 1mm diameter mesh attached to the fame. Each litter trap was installed at the center of four 20m x 50 m plots installed along 200 m transect at the onset of the fall season. Collected litter was dried in the oven at 65C for 48 hours before removing and weighing, while the Carbon to Nitrogen (C:N) of the litter was determined with 4010 Elemental analyzer that is coupled to a Delta Plux XL continuous flow isotope ration mass spectrometer (CFIRMS)after pre-processing (e.g. grinding). Total litterfall of the swamp is ~239 g/m2, while the average C:N value of 31.7 was reported for the analyzed data. Peak litterfall was observed around October which thereafter dwindled into November. This dataset is expected to improve our understanding of swamp peatland carbon in the temperate region of Canada and can also be used for initializing and calibrating ecological models in the area.