On seasonal variation in the nutrient content of needle litter from Scots pine

Abstract

The multielemental PIXE method was applied to analysis of Pinussylvestris L. needle litter to determine 14 micro- and macro-nutrients simultaneously. Clear seasonal variation in the elemental composition was experimentally revealed. There were three groupings of the elements. Calcium and manganese content was shown to increase rapidly, while the concentration of several other elements decreased during senescence. Deviations observed in the systematic yearly cycling are proposed to be coupled with nutritive imbalance. A simulation model for the nutrient transport based on gross biological arguments has been developed and tested with the material. The model, with only four parameters for each element, can be widely used for dynamic investigations of nutrient flows. Care in sampling is necessary.