T ropical forests play a substantial role in the global carbon (C) cycle and are projected to experience significant changes in climate, highlighting the im portance of understanding the factors th a t contro l organic m atte r decom position in this biome. In the tropics, high tem perature and rainfall lead to some o f the highest rates o f litter decom position on earth , and given the near-o...

Micro-scale changes in earthworm communities and ground cover types were studied along five transect lines in an unmanaged beech forest (Fontainebleau forest, France). Spatial patterns were interpreted to the light of interactions between earthworm species and forest architecture, ground vegetation and quantity as well as quality of litter. The anecic Lumbricus terrestris was associated with pa...

Results The C : N ratio in plant tissue, litter, forest floor and mineral soil exhibited large variation across various sequences, with an average of 145.8 9.4 (mean SE), 49.9 3.0, 38.2 3.1 and 18.5 0.9, respectively. In most sequences, the plant tissue C : N ratio increased significantly with stand age, while the C : N ratio in litter, forest floor and mineral soil remained relatively constant...

This study was undertaken to quantify the nutrient turnover and soil fertility status in the natural forests of Central Western Ghats. Major nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium were analyzed in the litter, both from the samples collected in pre and post monsoon seasons. There was no much difference seen in the values between the two seasons studied in all the three nutrients st...

In order to study the diversity of the leaf litter and aerial litter filamentous fungi, sample were collected from a semi-deciduous seasonal forest located in the Miguel Calmon, state of Bahia, Brazil. Leaf litter and aerial litter samples were collected. Samples were placed in moist chambers. Five conidial fungi were described for the first time in Brazil. Comments about their specimens and di...

Most of the terrestrial net primary production enters the decomposer system as dead organic matter, and the subsequent recycling of C and nutrients are key processes for the functioning of ecosystems and the delivery of ecosystem goods and services. Although climatic and substrate quality controls are reasonably well understood, the functional role of biodiversity for biogeochemical cycles rema...

Four methodologies to project future trees per acre by diameter class were compared to develop a new modified stand table projection growth model for unmanaged loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) and slash pine (Pinus elliottii Engelm.) plantations in East Texas. The new models were fit to 92,882 observations from 153 permanent plots located in loblolly pine plantations and 33,792 observations from ...

The Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program of the USDA Forest Service conducts a national inventory of forests of the United States. A subset of FIA permanent inventory plots are sampled every year for numerous indicators of forest health ranging from soils to understory vegetation. Down woody material (DWM) is an FIA indicator that provides estimates of forest structural diversity, forest...

We studied the distribution of millipedes in a forest interior-forest edge-grassland habitat complex in the Hajdúság Landscape Protection Area (NE Hungary). The habitat types were as follows: (1) lowland oak forest, (2) forest edge with increased ground vegetation and shrub cover, and (3) mesophilous grassland. We collected millipedes by litter and soil sifting. There were overall 30 sifted lit...

Impacts of forest management practices on soil carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) dynamics remain under debate due to complex interactions between belowground biogeochemical processes. To optimize that minimize C N losses, we investigated the effects fluxes, including leaching dissolved organic (DOC) N, by comparing clearcutting, stem girdling (removal bark phloem tissue), control treatments in a Japa...