Leaf litter consumption slows crab growth but transforms mangrove food chains

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
AI Robertson
Keyword(s):  
Leaf Litter ◽  
Food Chains ◽  
Litter Consumption

scholarly journals Tropical terrestrial model ecosystems for evaluation of soil fauna and leaf litter quality effects on litter consumption, soil microbial biomass and plant growth

2009 ◽  
Vol 44 (8) ◽  
pp. 1063-1071 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernhard Förster ◽  
Marcos Garcia ◽  
Hubert Höfer ◽  
Edward Morgan ◽  
Jörg Römbke
Keyword(s):  
Microbial Biomass ◽  
Plant Growth ◽  
Leaf Litter ◽  
Litter Quality ◽  
Soil Microbial Biomass ◽  
Rubber Plantation ◽  
Soil Microbial ◽  
Model Ecosystems ◽  
Terrestrial Model Ecosystems ◽  
Litter Consumption

The aim of this work was to evaluate whether terrestrial model ecosystems (TMEs) are a useful tool for the study of the effects of litter quality, soil invertebrates and mineral fertilizer on litter decomposition and plant growth under controlled conditions in the tropics. Forty-eight intact soil cores (17.5-cm diameter, 30-cm length) were taken out from an abandoned rubber plantation on Ferralsol soil (Latossolo Amarelo) in Central Amazonia, Brazil, and kept at 28ºC in the laboratory during four months. Leaf litter of either Hevea pauciflora (rubber tree), Flemingia macrophylla (a shrubby legume) or Brachiaria decumbens (a pasture grass) was put on top of each TME. Five specimens of either Pontoscolex corethrurus or Eisenia fetida (earthworms), Porcellionides pruinosus or Circoniscus ornatus (woodlice), and Trigoniulus corallinus (millipedes) were then added to the TMEs. Leaf litter type significantly affected litter consumption, soil microbial biomass and nitrate concentration in the leachate of all TMEs, but had no measurable effect on the shoot biomass of rice seedlings planted in top soil taken from the TMEs. Feeding rates measured with bait lamina were significantly higher in TMEs with the earthworm P. corethrurus and the woodlouse C. ornatus. TMEs are an appropriate tool to assess trophic interactions in tropical soil ecossistems under controlled laboratory conditions.

Leaf Litter Consumption by Macroarthropods and Burial of their Faeces Enhance Decomposition in a Mediterranean Ecosystem

Ecosystems ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (6) ◽  
pp. 1104-1115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mathieu Coulis ◽  
Stephan Hättenschwiler ◽  
Sylvain Coq ◽  
Jean-François David
Keyword(s):  
Leaf Litter ◽  
Mediterranean Ecosystem ◽  
Litter Consumption
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