Studying Microarthropods Inhabiting Leaf Litter

Abstract

Leaf litter contains many interesting forms of life that most high school students and teachers have not observed. The object of this article is to encourage students and teachers to study the organisms inhabiting the leaf litter and to describe the materials and procedures involved in making such a study. The existence of any ecosystem depends upon the cycling of the essential elements that make up protoplasm and the continual flow of energy from one trophic level to the next (Odum, 1959). Many times these essential elements become trapped at a specific level. A specific level where materials are slowed down and trapped is the leaf litter. Before these essential elements can be recycled through the ecosystem, they must be broken down into smaller units.. Breakdown of litter is important to man because it releases important elements that would otherwise remain trapped and would not be available to plants for recycling in the ecosystem. This breakdown of leaf litter or decomposition results from the action of various decomposing organisms. Major decomposers of organic matter, including leaf litter, are bacteria and fungi (Odum, 1959). Others agents that break down and act on leaf litter are microarthropods. The main function of microarthropods is physically breaking up leaf litter, thereby increasing its surface area so that chemical breakdown will occur more rapidly through the action of bacteria and fungi. Not all organisms that inhabit the leaf litter contribute to its breakdown. Various Lepidoptera, Coleoptera, and Diptera inhabit the leaf litter without directly breaking down the organic matter (Fenton, 1947). This article will concern itself with all microarthropods whether they contribute to leaf litter breakdown or not.