Understanding the response of plant communities to litter removal or addition plays an important role in the sustainable management of rangelands. In this study, we investigated the effect of different litter removal and addition treatments on the annual forage production and on soil carbon and nitrogen contents of four rangeland communities in arid to semiarid areas of Iran. The results showed that litter removal reduced the contents of carbon and nitrogen in soil and the annual forage production. There was an 80% drop in annual forage production of Artemisia aucheri stand when whole litter mass was removed. The litter removal increased the annual production in Saccharum bengalense stand, and the highest forage production increment was seen when 50% of litter was removed. There was no significant difference between legume and non-legume plant stands owing to variations of soil nitrogen content. Due to the allelopathic effects in Artemisia aucheri stand, litter manipulation had no effect on the annual growth of annuals. The litter quality was more correlated to soil C and N contents and to annual forage production than to litter quantity in plant stands. Plant stands in semiarid rangelands were more sensitive to litter removal than to litter addition. Generally, short-term litter manipulation for a growing season had greater impacts on shrubland communities.

中文翻译：

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短期垫料操作对牧场生产，土壤碳和氮含量的影响

了解植物群落对清除或增加凋落物的反应在牧场的可持续管理中起着重要作用。在这项研究中，我们调查了不同的垫料去除和添加处理对伊朗干旱至半干旱地区四个牧场社区的年度牧草产量以及土壤碳氮含量的影响。结果表明，清除凋落物减少了土壤中碳和氮的含量，并降低了牧草的年产量。去除全部凋落物后，蒿木的年牧草产量下降了80％。清除垃圾增加了孟加拉糖蔗的年产量站立，当除去50％的垫料时，草料产量最高。由于土壤氮含量的变化，豆科植物和非豆科植物的林分之间没有显着差异。由于青蒿的化感作用，凋落物的处理对年生植物的年生长没有影响。凋落物质量与土壤碳和氮含量以及年饲草产量的相关性更大，而不是与林分中凋落物的数量相关。半干旱牧场的林分对凋落物的去除比对增加凋落物更敏感。通常，生长季节的短期凋落物处理对灌木丛社区有更大的影响。