Breakdown of Confined and Nonconfined Oak Litter

Abstract

Dried leaves of the white oak, Quercus alba, were confined in small fiberglass bags with 1 mm meshes; other leaves were tied by their petioles into chains with nylon string. Both series were exposed on, or buried in, the forest floor in pine, oak and maple stands, and were left in position for one year, beginning in the autumn. Until spring the leaves decayed and lost weight steadily, and in about equal quantities both in bags and on strings. Beginning in the spring, however, the leaves on strings lost weight much more rapidly than in bags, evidently because mice, birds and larger soil arthropods were excluded from the bags. Leaves placed on the surface of the forest litter decayed considerably more slowly than those buried in the litter, as would be expected from the differences of moisture content. The true total decomposition rates probably are not indicated in the results obtained by either method, and it remains unknown.