litterfall

English

litter +‎ fall

litterfall (usually uncountable, plural litterfalls)

(ecology, usually uncountable) Plant material that falls to the ground, such as leaves from trees.
- 2008, Masami Miyaki & Koichi Kaji, “Shift to Litterfall as Year-Round Forage for Sika Deer after a Population Crash”, in Sika Deer, page 186:
  Litterfall is provided for as long as the mature forest exists.
(ecology, countable) The total mass of plant material falling to the ground per unit area, or the mass collected at a specific site.
- 1986, K.A. Vogt et al., “Production, turnover, and nutrient dynamics of above- and belowground detritus of world forests”, in Advances in Ecological Research, volume 15, page 315:
  The remaining forest types had similar mean litterfalls ranging from 3333 to 6484 kg ha^-1 year^-1

plant material that falls to the ground

mass of fallen plant material per unit area