Abstract:The study of caloric values of different aboveground organs of some dominant and common species in south subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forest in Heishiding Nature Reserve, Guangdong Province, showed that the dry weight caloric values were affected obviously by the ash contents of plant species and of different organs of plant,and the ash-free caloric values varied with different species and organs. Mean ash-free caloric values for different organs of the same species among 8 species in the tree layer ranged from 19.261 to 20.672 kJ g-1, the ranking of Which in species being Ormosia glaberrima > Neolitsea phanerophlebia > Quercus chungii > Machilus breviflora > Cryptocarya concinna >Artocarpus styracifolius>Lithocarpus lohangwa >Ixonathes chinensis. Mean ash-free caloric values of the same organ for 8 species in the tree layer were 21.417 kJ g-1 for leaves, 19.929 kJ g-1 for twigs, 19.961 kJ g-1 for trunk barks, and 18.664 kJ g-1 for trunks.Ash-free caloric values of the same organ in different abovearound lavers tended to be in the following sequence; tree layer>shrub layer>herbaceous layer, which was shown markedly in ash-free caloric values in leaves.
