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Flood pattern and weather determine Populus leaf litter breakdown and nitrogen dynamics on a cold desert floodplain

Citation

Andersen, Douglas C, and Nelson, S Mark, Flood pattern and weather determine Populus leaf litter breakdown and nitrogen dynamics on a cold desert floodplain: .

Summary

Patterns and processes involved in litter breakdown on desert river floodplains are not well understood. We used leafpacks containing Fremont cottonwood (Populus deltoides subsp. wislizenii) leaf litter to investigate the roles of weather and microclimate, flooding (immersion), and macroinvertebrates on litter organic matter (OM) and nitrogen (N) loss on a floodplain in a cool-temperate semi-arid environment (Yampa River, northwestern Colorado, USA). Total mass of N in fresh autumn litter fell by 20% over winter and spring, but in most cases there was no further N loss prior to termination of the study after 653 days exposure, including up to 20 days immersion during the spring flood pulse. Final OM mass was 10?40% of initial values. [...]

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  • Upper Colorado River Basin

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From Source - Mendeley RIS Export <br> On - Wed Sep 19 08:08:31 MDT 2012

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Title Citation Flood pattern and weather determine Populus leaf litter breakdown and nitrogen dynamics on a cold desert floodplain

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