Abstract
Decomposition of oak leaf litter in a Quercus serrate forest was studied for 12 months using litter boxes. The box was made from PVC(Polyvinyl chloride) cylinder(φ: 10cm, height: 9.0cm) and its both ends were covered with different mesh sizes (1.0mm and 25μm). The litter boxes with 25μm mesh size were used to exclude mesofauna and the boxes with 1.0mm mesh size were used to allow the access of microbiota and mesofauna. The environmental conditions (temperature, relative humidity and litter moisture content) in the boxes did not differ between the two treatments. The 25μm mesh treatment was very effective in excluding mesofauna. The weight loss of leaf litter was significantly higher in the 25μm boxes than that in the 1.0mm boxes at 3 months, but the differences in the two treatments were not significant at 6, 9 and 12 months. The annual decomposition constants (k) were 0.57 and 0.53yr^<-1> in the 1.0mm and 25μm boxes, respectively. The amounts of nitrogen remaining were not significantly different between the two treatments throughout the study period. The C/N ratio was significantly lower in the 1.0mm boxes than in the 25μm boxes at 12 months. Our results indicate that the mesofauna had a negative effect on the litter weight loss in the nitrogen immobilization phase (0-3 months), but their contribution to the rates of weight loss and nitrogen mineralization of Q. serrate leaf litter was negligible over a one-year period.
