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cje ›› 2004, Vol. ›› Issue (1): 60-64.

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Advances in the studies of forest litter

LIN Bo, LIU Qing, WU Yan, HE Hai   

  1. Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu 610041, China
  • Received:2002-06-25 Revised:2002-08-09 Online:2004-02-10

Abstract: In this paper, the authors presented the concepts of forest litter as well as the methodology and main subjects in the study of forest litter, especially the issues regarding litter gathering, aperture sizes of decomposition bags, spatial and temporal dynamics of litterfall and decomposition rates. Some important achievements in the studies of forest litter included influencing the factors of litterfall and decomposition process. Through reallocation of light, temperature and moisture, altitude and latitude affected litterfall globally. the leading influencing climatic factor was annual mean temperature. Decomposition rate of litters was correlated to their chemical composition and environmental factors. C/N ratio and the content of N played an important role in the process of litter decomposition. Soil moisture was a key environmental factor affecting litter decomposition. For the soil microbes, their effects on decomposition of litters fell into two stages. In the first stage, the microbes fragmented the surface layer of litters, which resulted in small animals entering into litters. While in the later stage, decomposition was mainly caused by breaking down of organic matters by microbes. In the future, studies will be concentrated on the factors influencing litterfall and decomposition as well as the ecological functioning of forest litters.

Key words: Anodonta woodiana, Filtering capacity, Feeding selectivity, Phytoplankton

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