The effect of litter quality and soil faunal composition on organic matter dynamics in post-mining soil: A laboratory study

The effect of litter type and macrofauna community on litter decomposition and organic matter accumulation in post-mining sites

“…Litter fragmentation enhanced by soil macrofauna may increase the leaching of easily available substances into the mineral soil, which may support microbial respiration either directly or indirectly by a priming effect that enhances the decomposition of fossil organic matter abundant in Sokolov tertiary clays (Kříbek et al 1998). Preliminarily laboratory experiments indicated that the processing of alder litter by soil macrofauna increased microbial respiration more than spontaneous litter processing (Frouz et al 2007). …”

“…m −2 in the reclaimed and the unreclaimed site, respectively (Frouz et al 2004). Both sites differred in litter quality: C and N content in alder litter was 46.6 ± 0.97 and 3.26 ± 0.19, while in unreclaimed site litter C and N content was 45.01 ± 0.49 and 1.57 ± 0.13, respectively (Frouz et al 2007). Thus C:N ratio was much higher in spontaneous (29) than in alder litter (14).…”

“…Previous field experiments indicated that in unreclaimed sites the incorporation of carbon (C) in mineral soil was much slower than in reclaimed alder plantations (Frouz et al 2006). This can be due to litter quality as spontaneous sites are supplied with litter with high C:N ratio while alder litter has low C:N ration (Frouz et al 2007). Moreover, alder plantations support the development of more abundant macrofauna communities than spontaneous sites.…”

“…Moreover, alder plantations support the development of more abundant macrofauna communities than spontaneous sites. Previous laboratory experiments and observations of soil microstructure indicated that soil macrofauna played a crucial role in soil mixing (Frouz et al 2001a;Frouz & Nováková 2005;Frouz et al 2007). Consequently, enhanced soil mixing in post mining sites may indirectly be affected by the composition and abundance of soil macrofauna.…”

Distribution of Organic Carbon in Different Soil Fractions in Ecosystems of Central Amazonia

“…Physical, biological, and chemical properties of soils are attributed to SOM (Cheng et al, 2007), which is fundamental to the maintenance and sustainability of natural or managed ecosystems. Soil organic matter is considered a product of organic residues, mainly partially decomposed vegetation, in various stages of complexity and structural diversity (Feldpausch et al, 2004;Frouz et al, 2007). It can also be defined as soil C in all its forms under diverse structural conformations with labile and stable constituents (Passos et al, 2007).…”