1980 年 30 巻 2 号 p. 155-172
Cycling of soil organic carbon in three types of forest were analyzed by a compartment model, and compared with each other. The accumulation of soil organic carbon became larger, but the flow rates of soil carbon decreased as we went from a tropical rain forest through an evergreen oak forest to a beech/fir forest. The calculated half life of A_0 layer was 0.4,1.2,and 4.0 years at the tropical rain, the evergreen oak and beech/fir forests respectively. Ratios of each flow rate of soil carbon to the total soil respiration rate in three forests were constant regardless of forest type and turnover rate of soil carbon. All flow rates of soil carbon were formulated as a function of the accumulation of A_0 layer which suggested A_0 layer to be a most sensitive indicator of cycling of soil organic carbon in forest ecosystems.