Journal of Food, Agriculture and Environment

Effects of mixed-species leaf litter on litter decomposition and soil microbial communities in experimental subtropical plantation forest

Author(s):

Yan-Xin Liu ^{1, 2, 3}, Si-Long Wang ^{1, 2*}, Qing-Kui Wang ^{1, 2}, Jian Zhang ^{1, 3}

Recieved Date: 2010-07-27, Accepted Date: 2010-10-30

Abstract:

Although there has been much recent interest in the effect of mixed-species litter on decomposition processes, much remains unknown about how mixed-species litter influences litter decomposition, especially little is known how soil microbial communities are affecting. We carried out a litter mixing experiment in subtropical plantation forest to reveal the effects of litter mixtures on leaf litter decomposition and soil microbial communities. Over a 540-day period, mass remaining rates and bacterial counts were significantly influenced by leaf litter species composition in spite of sampling time. Fungal counts were sensitive to leaf litter species composition only at Day 90. Actinomycetic counts were significantly affected by leaf litter species composition except at 540-day. Fungal counts were the highest in the initial stage of leaf litter decomposition, on the contrary, actinomycetes were active during the final stage. The data strongly indicated that leaf litter species composition significantly affected leaf litter decomposition and soil microbial communities, and especially showed that specific mixed-species composition of leaf litter had a striking effect. Our results suggest that mixed-species leaf litter, mainly through affecting soil microbial communities, influences decomposition processes.

Keywords:

Decomposition rate, microbial counts, microcosms, mixed-species leaf litter

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Journal: Journal of Food, Agriculture and Environment
Year: 2010
Volume: 8
Issue: 3&4
Category: Environment
Pages: 1102-1107

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