ABSTRACT
With the objective of evaluating the seasonal litter fall of a Mixed Araucaria Forest, in September 98, an experiment was installed at the UFPR’s experimental station in São João do Triunfo, Parana State. This station is divided in 30 blocks of 1 ha each. Twenty-seven litter collectors were installed in 3 blocks (9 sampling points per block). At every 45 days the litter were collected, always attempting to the end of the season. The collected material was conditioned in plastic bags, which were identified with the numbers of the collector and the block where it was installed. After air drying, the material was separated in three fractions (leaves , branches and miscellany ) and then, it was taken to dry kiln at 65ºC until reaching constant weight, in order to determine the dry weight of each litter fraction. The results obtained so far demonstrate that the spring season showed the greatest litter fall, followed by the winter, summer and autumn with the average values (in kg/ha) of 2,433.31; 2,164.79; 1,799.71 and 1,399.00, respectively. The leaves fraction was the main component representing 57% of the total litter fall weight, followed by the branches fraction with 27% and miscellany with 16%.
Key words:
biomass; litter; araucaria forest