Print PageAllometric relationships of many forest species have been well documented. As a result, there have been many attempts to generalize carbon sequestration across forest populations. However, such models must account for the temporary nature and variability of leaf biomass . Furthermore, these models do not generally account for biotic filters such as disturbance, insect/fungal/bacterial attacks and contamination of soil and water. Through both destructive sampling and LAI measurements we examined leaf biomass at four forest sites with varying levels of metal contamination and water availability.
Results/Conclusions
Our results indicate that soil metal loads and water availability affect LAI and leaf mass. The site with the lowest metal contamination and greatest water availability had an LAI of 2.85, and the site with the highest metal contamination and lowest water availability had an LAI of 1.6. The site with the highest metal contamination and lowest water availability had a per unit-leaf mass of 145.10g while the site with the lowest metal contamination and greatest water availability had a per unit-leaf mass of 128.1g. These data suggest that the site index at the microscale can play an important role in determining the carbon flux within an urban forest.
