Juan Diego León Peláez

Caracterización de materia orgánica aportada por hojarasca fina en los bosques de ribera del río Gaira (Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta – Colombia)

The objective of this research was to characterize the production of fine litter provided by five abundant species on a stretch of the middle basin of the Gaira river. The study was carried out for six months, with bimonthly collections in 87 fall traps distributed systematically every 10 m for a total of 10 transects. The collected material was separated by fractions and it was determined and their contribution in terms of dry mass, resulting in a yearly production of 3764 kg ha- 1, that the extrapolated a year represented 7529 kg ha-1, intermediate value than those in other studies in tropical rainforests. The production of fine litter was dominated by the leaf fraction (65% ), followed by the woody material (17.7% ), reproductive material (9.4 %) and other debris (7.6% ). The highest production of leaf litter was recorded for Nectandra cf. turbacensis (152.27 kg ha-1) and the lower production was for the Pouteria arguacoensium (9.66 kg ha-1). The Nectandra cf. turbacensis and the Zygia longifolia species presented the major leaf litter contributions, which were categorized as potential species for inclusion in activities for the restoration of coastal areas by water currents.