Keywords :
Climate; Litter Quality; Macrofauna; Leaf; Decomposition; Thailand
บทคัดย่อ :
Litter decomposition is a complex ecological process that is controlled by various environmental factors. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of climate, litter quality and soil macrofauna decomposers on litter decomposition rate in dry dipterocarp (DD) and dry evergreen forests (DE) in Sakaerat Biosphere Reserve (SBR), northeastern Thailand. The field experiment was carried out at 2 months interval from June 2007 to May 2008. Natural litter was incubated in 5 mm mesh bags for 12 months at their source sites. Meteorological data was recorded according to the SBR data. Soil macrofauna decomposers were collected and classified to class/order level. The results showed that the mean annual decomposition rates (k-constant) of leaf litter in DD and DE were 0.11 (+-) 0.02 and 0.21 (+-) 0.27, respectively. The litter mass loss was highly significantly different between DD and DE. The litter decomposition rate had a positive correlation with rainfall and negative correlations with temperature and relative humidity in DD, but it had only a positive correlation with precipitation in DE. The initial litter quality did not differ between both ecosystems. There were positive correlations between nitrogen content and lignin and decomposition rate, and a negative correlation between carbon content and C/N ration in DE. The influence of initial litter quality on decomposition rate was not found in DD. The soil macrofauna of 12 classes/orders with 176.34 (+-) 6.13 individuals per bag were found in DD and 15 classes/orders with 260.68 (+-) 7.98 individuals per bag were found in DE. The two most abundant orders of macrofauna in both DD and DE were Isoptera and Hymenoptera. The Shannon-Weiner diversity index in DD was 2.01 and was 2.22 in DE. The decomposition rates had positive correlations with abundance and diversity of soil macrofauna in both DD and DE.
เอกสารอ้างอิง :
Sansorrapisut, S., Thanee, N., & Aroon, S. (2016). Influence of Climate, Litter Quality and Soil Macrofauna Decomposers on Litter Decomposition in Dry Dipterocarp and Dry Evergreen Forests in Northeastern Thailand. International Journal of Agricultural Technology, 12(7.1), 1577-1589.
