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Decomposition rates of two species of leaf litter at an oligotrophic pond in the southern China
LIU Ruo-si, PENG Fang, TONG Xiao-li
Department of Entomology, College of Natural Resources & Environment, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China
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Abstract  

The litter breakdown in lake and wetland is poor known in tropical and subtropical regions. To investigate the decomposition of leaf litter in lentic environment of subtropical region,breakdown rates of ear-leaved acacia (Acacia auriculaeformis) and sapodilla (Manilkara zapoto) leaves were measured over a 130-day period using coarse-mesh bags in an oligotrophic pond at the Changgangshan Nature Reserve,Guangzhou. The results showed that the decomposition rates of these two leaf species were quite slow. After 130 days,ear-leaved acacia leaves and sapodilla leaves lost 25.7% and 22.5% of their initial mass only. The daily breakdown coefficients (k) of A. auriculaeformis and M. zapoto were respectively 0.00145 d-1 and 0.00105 d-1 which fitted well by an exponential decay model. The macroinvertebrates colonized on two leaf species were only five species,of which Chironomus sp. and Gammarus sp. were dominant benthos. The results suggest that the scarcity of shredders is one of main factors which make the breakdown rates of these two species much slower.

Key wordsLeaf litter      Breakdown      Acacia auriculaeformis      Manilkara zapoto      Macroinvertebrates      Lentic environment     
Received: 25 February 2007     
:  Q178.1  
  S718.52  
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LIU Ruo-si
PENG Fang
TONG Xiao-li
Cite this article:   
LIU Ruo-si,PENG Fang,TONG Xiao-li. Decomposition rates of two species of leaf litter at an oligotrophic pond in the southern China[J]. , 2007, 26(1): 27-29.
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http://www.ecolsci.com/EN/     OR     http://www.ecolsci.com/EN/Y2007/V26/I1/27
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