Empirically estimating the lateral transport of riparian leaf litter to lakes

1. An experimental study found the lateral transport of riparian leaf litter to increase in relation to surface slope, exposure to precipitation, and absence of ground flora. Deciduous leaves displayed greater lateral redistribution than did coniferous needles. 2. When these results were combined with the proportional representation of different slopes, canopy exposures and ground roughness measured from transects throughout the riparian zones of sixteen north-western Ontario lakes, the average annual lateral transport distance of coniferous needles was estimated to be 0.3 m and that of deciduous leaves to be 0.5 m. 3. Data on the annual riparian litterfall and distributional proximity of trees to the shorelines suggested that the lateral input of riparian litter was 2 g m(-1) forested shoreline yr(-1), an amount which represents 6% of the total annual allochthonous input of leaf-fall to these study lakes.