Decreased plant diversity is expected to reduce ecosystem function. Although many studies have examined eff ects of plant species on trophic interactions, information regarding eff ects of native or non-native plant diversity on performance of individuals of higher trophic levels is limited. We reared larval American toad Anaxyrus americanus tadpoles in outdoor mesocosms containing litter of 1,...

We studied bacterial and fungal colonization of submerged plant litter, using a known Si-accumulator (Equisetum arvense), in experimental microcosms during one month. We specifically addressed the microbial decomposer role concerning biogenic silica (bSiO2) dissolution from the degrading litter. To vary the rates and level of microbial colonization, the litter was combined with a range of miner...

IntraspeciWc diversity can inXuence the structure of associated communities, though whether litter-based and foliage-based arthropod communities respond to intraspeciWc diversity in similar ways remains unclear. In this study, we compared the eVects of host-plant genotype and genotypic diversity of the perennial plant, Solidago altissima, on the arthropod community associated with living plant ...

Diets of most snail species are unstudied, but the diets of non-native snails are of special interest because these species may be pests or compete with native species. We tested whether the apparent leaf-litter diet of a colony of the non-native land snail Patera appressa from a plant nursery was adequate to support growth, and whether growth rate could be altered by changing diet. Growth was ...

The purpose of our investigation was to clarify the effects of agriculture on the process of loss of litter at the periphery of a farmland. This study revealed the generation process of an ecologically unusual phenomenon that is observed around cropland in semi-arid regions. We hypothesized that the vegetation around a farmland cannot supply plant litter to the ground surface because the ecolog...

Global climate change has generally modified net primary production (NPP) which leads to increasing litter inputs in some ecosystems. Therefore, assessing the impacts of increasing litter inputs on soil nutrients, plant growth and ecological carbon (C) : nitrogen (N) : phosphorus (P) stoichiometry is critical for an understanding of C, N and P cycling and their feedback processes to climate cha...

The litter carbon (C) pool of a single litter cohort in an agroecosystem is the difference between net primary productivity and decomposition and comprises 1113% of the total C pool (litter and soil 0-15 cm depth) post-harvest. This litter-C pool is highly dynamic and up to 50% can be decomposed in the first 12 months of decomposition. Thus, understanding litter-C dynamics is key in understandi...

the aim of this research was to compare the amounts of existing mineral elements in plant aerial parts, litter and soil ofthree range species (bromus tomentellus, psathyrostachys fragilis, agropyron tauri) in order to investigate the litter effectof species on soil properties of taleghan rangeland. the measured mineral elements include carbon, nitrogen,phosphorous and potassium. after selection...

There has been leakage of radioactive materials from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. A heavily contaminated area (≥ ¹³⁴,¹³⁷Cs 1000 kBq m⁻²) has been identified in the area northwest of the plant. The majority of the land in the contaminated area is forest. Here we report the amounts of biomass, litter (small organic matter on the surface of the soil), coarse woody litter, and soil in...

Many studies in ecosystem ecology argue for strong control of litter quality over nitrogen (N) cycling. We developed a model for temperate grasslands to test the importance of litter quality in decomposition for N and phosphorus (P) cycling based on the following premises. First, terrestrial N and P cycling differ fundamentally because N is a structural component of the soil organic matter (SOM...