Plant litter

Litter is an important factor in ecosystem dynamics, as it is indicative of ecological productivity and may be useful in predicting regional nutrient cycling and soil fertility.

This can be anything from leaves, cones, needles, twigs, bark, seeds/nuts, logs, or reproductive organs (e.g. the stamen of flowering plants).

[3] Net primary production works inversely to this trend, suggesting that the accumulation of organic matter is mainly a result of decomposition rate.

Typically humid tropical and sub-tropical climates have reduced organic matter layers and horizons due to year-round decomposition and high vegetation density and growth.

In temperate and cold climates, litter tends to accumulate and decompose slower due to a shorter growing season.

In every terrestrial ecosystem, the largest fraction of all net primary production is lost to herbivores and litter fall.

[3] Plant litter, which can be made up of fallen leaves, twigs, seeds, flowers, and other woody debris, makes up a large portion of above ground net primary production of all terrestrial ecosystems.

The community of decomposers in the litter layer also includes bacteria, amoeba, nematodes, rotifer, tardigrades, springtails, cryptostigmata, potworms, insect larvae, mollusks, oribatid mites, woodlice, and millipedes.

[7] Even some species of microcrustaceans, especially copepods (for instance Bryocyclops spp., Graeteriella spp.,Olmeccyclops hondo, Moraria spp.,Bryocamptus spp., Atheyella spp.

Amphibians such as salamanders and caecilians inhabit the damp microclimate underneath fallen leaves for part or all of their life cycle.

A BBC film crew captured footage of a female caecilian with young for the first time in a documentary that aired in 2008.

[16] Some species of birds, such as the ovenbird of eastern North America for example, require leaf litter for both foraging and material for nests.

[12] Leaching is the process by which cations such as iron (Fe) and aluminum (Al), as well as organic matter are removed from the litterfall and transported downward into the soil below.

This process is known as podzolization and is particularly intense in boreal and cool temperate forests that are mainly constituted by coniferous pines whose litterfall is rich in phenolic compounds and fulvic acid.

[3] By the process of biological decomposition by microfauna, bacteria, and fungi, CO2 and H2O, nutrient elements, and a decomposition-resistant organic substance called humus are released.

[21] Knowing this, ecologists have been able to use nutrient concentrations as measured by remote sensing as an index of a potential rate of decomposition for any given area.

Litter is produced both inland by terrestrial plants and moved to the coast by fluvial processes, and by mangrove ecosystems.

Nordhaus et al. 2011 find crabs forage for leaves at low tide and if their detritivory is the predominant disposal route, they can take 80% of leaf material.

A litterbag is simply any type of container that can be set out in any given area for a specified amount of time to collect the plant litter that falls from the canopy above.

Litterbags are generally set in random locations within a given area and marked with GPS or local coordinates, and then monitored on a specific time interval.

For study various groups from edaphic fauna you need a different mesh sizes in the litterbags[29] In some regions of glaciated North America, earthworms have been introduced where they are not native.

[30] Leaf litter accumulation depends on factors like wind, decomposition rate and species composition of the forest.

[32][33] In 1853, an estimated 50 Tg of dry litter per year was raked in European forests, when the practice reached its peak.