Notice of RetractionEffects of configuration types on the litter standing crop of protective greenbelts in desert oasis cities: A case study in Karamay City, Xinjiang, China

Notice of Retraction

After careful and considered review of the content of this paper by a duly constituted expert committee, this paper has been found to be in violation of IEEE´s Publication Principles.

We hereby retract the content of this paper. Reasonable effort should be made to remove all past references to this paper.

The presenting author of this paper has the option to appeal this decision by contacting TPII@ieee.org.

In this paper, the mass, composition, vertical distribution of forest floor litter were investigated in a protective greenbelt in Karamay, China. We found that the mass of the litter layer differed significantly throughout the 14 different species mixtures and planting configurations in the study. The forest floor dry weight varied from a high of about 719.36g/m² under stands containing both trees and shrubs that were mixed by rows to a low of 117.34 g/m² in stands containing only trees that were mixed by rows and strips. Leaf litter was the main component of the L horizon, accounting for 53.8-97.0% of the litter mass. Twig (and bark) contents varied between the different configurations of species, but flowers (and fruit) accounted for the smallest proportion of the forest floor litter in all stands. As a result of this study we suggest that protective greenbelts be comprised of a mixture of trees and shrubs planted in alternating rows, especially in arid, windy climates.