Decomposition in five woodland soils: relationships with some invertebrate populations and with weather

Abstract

In two alluvial forests, a beech forest, an oakhazel-wood and a spruce forest, correlations between abiotic factors and the different groups of soil animals on the one hand and the decomposition rate (mean rate of disappearance) on the other hand have been the subject of investigation. There is a positive correlation between Lumbricidae and Brachycera imagines and the pH and the decomposition rate, but a negative one with Enchytraeidae and Nematocera imagines. Varying weather conditions are of great importance for decomposition processes. The influence of temperature seems to be insignificant. In the deciduous forests fluctuations of precipitation correlate fairly well with fluctuations in rates of decomposition, because of the high abundance of lumbricids. The spruce forest has very few lumbricids and the influence of weather on the course of decomposition is insignificant. Yet there is only a very loose relationship with the annual fluctuations of weather conditions. Only a major event such as the relatively low temperature and precipitation of 1980 is capable of inhibiting the development of sciarid larvae and enchytraeids and hence reducing the ensuing decomposition rate in 1981 and possibly even in 1982. The reason for this is that sciarid larvae and imagines, for example, go through critical periods during their development, which are influenced by the weather, frequently with a time lag of 1 year. Long-term investigations in the spruce forest have established a high correlation between sciarid larvae and enchytraeids and the decomposition rate.