Litterfall from two forests exhibits different decomposition dynamics, as reveal

Question

Litterfall from two forests exhibits different decomposition dynamics, as revealed by an experiment:   Litter bags all starting with 100 g of dry leaf litter in each forest are left to decompose over 36 months.   Every 3 months, you collect litterbags and dry and weigh their contents.  The average daily mass loss for Forest #1’s leaf litter is 0.2%.  The average daily mass loss for Forest #2’s leaf litter is 0.3%.   

a) How many g of Forest #1 and Forest #2’s leaf litter are left, on average, in each litter bag after 1 year?

b) How many g of Forest #1 and Forest #2’s leaf litter are left, on average, in each litter bag after 2 years?

c) List two key reasons that might drive the differences in these forests’ litterfall’s decay rates if Forest #1 and Forest #2 have exactly the same climate regimes.   

d) List two additional reasons (distinct from those in 3c) that might drive the differences in these forests’ litterfall’s decay rates if you further learned that Forest #1 and Forest #2 are dominated by two different species of pine (forest #1) and sugar maple (forest #2).

Explanation / Answer

Amount of leaf litter lost after 1 year=365x0.2=73g

Litter left after 1 year=100-73=27 g

Forest #2

Amount of leaf litter lost after 1 year=365x0.3=109.5g

Litter left after 1 year=0 g

2. Nothing will be left, as the remaining 27 g dry leaves from Forest #1 are also emptied within 135 days and from Forest # 2 nothing is left to decompose.

3.Lower litter quality, inhibitory compounds such as phenolic and tannins can reduce the decay rate, chemical quality of leaf litter and the nature, soil texture, exogenous sources of labile C and nutrients and abundance of decomposing organisms present in the soil will influence the decay rate.

4.The decay rate depends on the species present in the forest. Some species undergo decay easily when compared to others. The decay rate of sugar maple is more than pine. The ash content of pine species is low and is around 1%whereas sugar maple leaf litter is 11.3% and will increase after 1 year of decay.

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