ANNUAL AND SEASONAL PATTERNS OF LITTER-FALL OF HARD BEECH (NOTHOFAGUS-TRUNCATA) AND SILVER BEECH (NOTHOFAGUS-MENZIESII) IN RELATION TO REPRODUCTION

Vegetative and reproductive components of litter-fall of hard beech we re measured for five years and of silver beech for four years under ma ture trees in the Orongorongo Valley, near Wellington, New Zealand. Me an annual total litter-fall of hard beech(477 g m(-2)) included 318 g of leaves and 109 g of twigs; that of silver beech (463 g m(-2)) inclu ded 295 g of leaves and 164 g of twigs. In one year only (1994/95) bot h species flowered and seeded prolifically. The two species produced s imilar numbers of seeds (hard beech 4866 seeds m(-2); silver beech 555 1 seeds m(-2)) but litter from male flowers, seeds, and cupules of har d beech weighed 232 g m(-2) compared with only 59 g m(-2) for silver b eech. Seasonal patterns of leaf-fall of the two species also differed substantially; peak leaf-fall of hard beech was in November and of sil ver beech in April/May. These differences in the amounts and timing of the components of litter-fall between species and years will have imp ortant ecosystem effects.