02875naa a2200181 a 450000100080000000500110000800800410001910000170006024501490007726000090022652023220023565000200255765000130257765000170259070000200260770000170262777300490264412799172025-04-29       1966    bl uuuu     u00u1 u    #d1 aCARLISLE, A.  aThe nutrient content of tree stem flow and ground flora litter and leachates in a sessile oak (Quercus petraea) woodland.h[electronic resource]  c1966  aThe importance of the water dripping from the tree crowns and the minor tree litter fractions (bud scales, male flowers, cupules, bark, etc.) in the nutrient cycle of a sessile oak (Quercus petraea (Mattuschka) Liebl.) woodland on a siliceous site in a high rainfall area has been demonstrated by the authors in previous papers (Carlisle 1965; Carlisle, Brown & White 1966a, b). These experiments did not, however, take into account the nutrients in stem flow (rainwater flowing down the outside of the tree stems), the changes in rainwater passing over the ground flora foliage, and the litter fall from the latter. There is very little information in the literature about the chemistry of stem flow waters, and what there is refers mainly to a few storms (Pozdnyakov 1956; Kaul & Billings 1965). Although the rainfall intercepted by ground vegetation, such as grasses, has been measured (Clark 1940; Burgy & Pomeroy 1958; Beard 1962), the difficulty of avoiding contamination of precipitation below the ground vegetation by soil splash in field conditions has inhibited work on the chemistry of these waters. Preliminary analysis of stem flow waters of the oaks indicated that although the quantities of water flowing down the stems were small when expressed on an area basis (Carlisle et al. 1965) the concentrations of some elements (particularly calcium, magnesium and potassium) were relatively high. It was possible, therefore, that small but significant amounts of these elements could be reaching the soil from this source. There was also evidence of a rapid decrease in the autumn, of levels of nutrients (particularly potassium) in the foliage of the ground flora, which could have been due either to back translocation or leaching of foliage by water dripping from the trees. The latter therefore was a possible source of nutrients to the soil. The present paper describes experiments designed to estimate the quantities of nutrients in the litter fall and waters dripping from the trees and ground vegetation, and the tree stem flow waters, in order to assess the relative importance of these components in the nutrient cycle, and to complete the picture of what substances fall from the aerial parts of the woodland annually to provide the fuel for the decomposition processes of the upper soil horizons  aQuercus petraea  aCarvalho  aSerapilheira1 aBROWN, A. H. F.1 aWHITE, E. J.  tJournal of Ecologygv. 55, p. 615-627, 1966.