Table 1. Effect of vegetation type and elevation as revealed by ANOVA (F values, with p in parentheses) on community-weighted measures of leaf and litter traits and litter mass, N, and P loss during decomposition.
| ANOVA results | ||||
| Variables | Vegetation type (V) | Elevation (E) | V × E interaction | |
| Foliage | N (%)a | 481.9 (<0.001) | 2.0 (0.107) | 11.6 (<0.001) |
| P (%)a | 167.4 (<0.001) | 11.2 (<0.001) | 5.8 (<0.001) | |
| N:P ratio | 33.4 (<0.001) | 16.5 (<0.001) | 0.875 (0.508) | |
| LDMC (mg g−1)a | 1237.0 (<0.001) | 20.7 (<0.001) | 26.7 (<0.001) | |
| SLA (m2 kg−1)a | 357.3 (<0.001) | 8.6 (<0.001) | 12.4 (<0.001) | |
| Fresh litter | N (%)a | 133.0 (<0.001) | 3.4 (0.0.012) | 14.3 (<0.001) |
| P (%)a | 1.3 (0.262) | 31.2 (<0.001) | 8.1 (<0.001) | |
| N:P ratioa | 22.5 (<0.001) | 34.8 (<0.001) | 5.0 (0.001) | |
| Decomposed litter | N (%) | 4444.6 (<0.001) | 11.3 (<0.001) | 23.4 (<0.001) |
| P (%)b | 81.8 (<0.001) | 35.5 (<0.001) | 15.6 (<0.001) | |
| N:P ratioa | 9.6 (0.004) | 45.2 (<0.001) | 11.5 (<0.001) | |
| Mass loss from decomposition (%) | 584.2 (<0.001) | 21.3 (<0.001) | 27.5 (<0.001) | |
| Release during decomposition: | ||||
| N (% of initial N)c | 116.3 (<0.001) | 3.4 (0.014) | 4.7 (0.002) | |
| P (% of initial P)c | 60.0 (<0.001) | 7.7 (<0.001) | 1.2 (0.310) | |
Degrees of freedom are 1,36 for V, 5,36 for E and 5,36 for V × E. Values in boldface indicate statistical significance at p≤0.05. LDMC is leaf dry matter content; SLA is specific leaf area.
a
Data transformed (by ln x) before analysis. bData transformed (by log (arcsine x)) before analysis.cData transformed (by √1 + (arcsine x)) before analysis.