Fjölrit RALA - 05.12.1999, Qupperneq 134

8IOMASS AND SOIL NUTRIENT POOLS IN NEWZEALAND
áZ.
Data sources: (Tekapo soil under derived F. novae-zelandiae grassland; Soil
Bureau 1968a. All other data; this paper.
Location 4. Old Man Range, Central Otago Ecological Region, Otago
4a. Humid, alpine, Obelisk soil, C. macra grassland (Meurk, 1978, 16:0:M).
4b. Humid, penalpine, Carrick soils, (i) C. macra / C. rigida grassland
(13:0:MR), (ii) induced Poa colensoi short grassland (13:0:P), (iii) modified
mixed tussock herbfield (13:0:PH).
4c. Dry subhumid, subalpine, Tawhiti soil, C. rigida / C. rubra grassland
(9:0:R).
Data sources: Biomass; Meurk 1978. Chionochloa nutrients; Williams et al.
1977b. Soils; Molloy and Blakemore 1974. All other data; this paper.
Procedures and conventions adopted for presentation of data
Where sufficient information was available, the following procedures were followed
to standardise data for comparison. Biomass data derived from published and unpub-
lished records have been assigned to three compartments: above-ground live plant tis-
sue; above-ground dead plant tissue, including litter; below-ground roots. Roots and
rhizomes pedestalled above ground have been here included, as they were in Williams
(1977), in above-ground compartments, and discounted from below-ground root mass
in data of Evans (1980). Such components are not reported separately in Meurk
(1978). Where supplementary estimates were necessary, as for incompletely recovered
fme roots in Craigiebum tall tussock samples, or for inter-tussock live shoot material
not tabulated in Williams (1977), estimates have been included in data presented here,
the presence of such adjustments being identified in the tables. In the case of the C.
pallens below-ground data of Evans (1980) where fine root recovery was incomplete,
measurements were doubled in line with his own estimate. Where inter-tussock above-
ground biomass had to be estimated, we followed the modified height frequency data
supplied by Williams (1977) to quantify the supplement needed for non-Chionochloa
components of biomass. Statistical confídence limits are not shown here but are pub-
lished in the originals to which reference is made. Measurements of biomass reported
for the first time in this paper are from destructive sampling, generally of areas of 4
m2, supplemented by estimates from height intercept data. Chemical analyses of tall
tussock material or of other bulk harvests followed the practices outlined in Williams
et al. (1977a).
Nutrient contents in live shoots of Chionochloa in Otago have been calculated us-
ing nutrient concentration coefficients for whole shoots, derived from the detailed in-
dividual locality records of Chionochloa species of Williams et al. (1977b). Values
used were from the same sites as the biomass determinations of Meurk (1978), calcu-
lated for whole live shoots of C. rigida and C. macra as appropriate. For all live shoot
material other than Chionochloa, coefficients have been used that were derived from
similar analyses in a wide range of Craigiebum, Hakatere, Mackenzie and Otago
studies.
We had hoped to include estimates of nutrient contents in Otago dead material and
roots, using coefficients derived from the earlier studies at Hakatere and Craigiebum,
and weighting these by the deviation of site-specific shoot values fforn the comparable