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Plant Litter

Decomposition, Humus Formation, Carbon Sequestration

  • Book
  • © 2003

Overview

Authors:
  1. Björn Berg

    1. Department of Soil Ecology, BITOEK, University of Bayreuth, Bayreuth, Germany

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  2. Charles McClaugherty

    1. Department of Biology, Mount Union College, Alliance, USA

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    You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

  • The book presents new concepts that go far beyond those currently taught about the formation of humus in textbooks on soil science and ecology

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Table of contents (12 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages I-XII
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  2. Introduction

    • Björn Berg, Charles McClaugherty
    Pages 1-9

  3. Decomposition as a process

    • Björn Berg, Charles McClaugherty
    Pages 11-30

  4. Decomposer organisms

    • Björn Berg, Charles McClaugherty
    Pages 31-48

  5. Initial litter chemical composition

    • Björn Berg, Charles McClaugherty
    Pages 49-77

  6. Changes in substrate composition during decomposition

    • Björn Berg, Charles McClaugherty
    Pages 79-106

  7. Influence of chemical variation in litter on decomposition

    • Björn Berg, Charles McClaugherty
    Pages 107-135

  8. Climatic environment

    • Björn Berg, Charles McClaugherty
    Pages 137-162

  9. Influence of site factors other than climate

    • Björn Berg, Charles McClaugherty
    Pages 163-172

  10. Decomposition of fine root and woody litter

    • Björn Berg, Charles McClaugherty
    Pages 173-189

  11. Models that describe litter decomposition

    • Björn Berg, Charles McClaugherty
    Pages 191-202

  12. Decomposition and ecosystem function

    • Björn Berg, Charles McClaugherty
    Pages 203-237

  13. Human activities that influence decomposition

    • Björn Berg, Charles McClaugherty
    Pages 239-247

  14. Back Matter

    Pages 249-286
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Keywords

About this book

When starting our work on this book we intended to summarize and synthesize the new information that had developed in the last 20-30 years in the field of plant lit­ ter decomposition. It turned out, however, that the main part of more recent work was directed towards boreal and temperate forest systems and therefore, with a fo­ cus on these ecosystems we finally concluded a synthesis that has a similarity to a case study. Still, we hope that a deeper insight into the behavior of a limited num­ ber of litter species will be of value for a generalization and also for the identifica­ tion of process systems that deviate from those presented here. We have written the book focusing on the transfer from newly shed litter to re­ calcitrant humus, describing and explaining the system of chemical changes taking place in the process both on a mechanistic basis and on a more general and re­ gionallevel, considering different climates and species. As a synthesis, this book gives some new aspects on decomposition that to some of us may be controversial. Thus, the fact that we emphasize the dominant role of microorganisms in the process may be disturbing to many readers, as well as the strong emphasis we give to the fact that humus layers actually do grow over millennia and that at a considerable rate, and thus really sequester e.g. C and N. This book is based primarily on data and conclusions made from field studies.

Reviews

From the reviews:

"The authors of the volume ‘Plant Litter’ present an up-to-date and interesting contribution … . The book is well arranged, relatively easy to read, contains fantastic graphics … . this fundamental and rather detailed book is an absolutely necessary resource about transformation and decomposition of plant litter ... . In summary, we strongly recommend this book for all scientists concerned with … plant litter … . The authors can be congratulated for their impressive efforts in publishing this highly professional volume." (Oliver Bens, Reinhard F. Hüttl, Journal of Plant Physiology, Vol. 161, 2004)

"The work of Berg and Mc Claugerthy resumes the state of the art concerning litter decomposition mainly in boreal forests but also in a few temperate situations. … this book is a remarkable synthesis of the current knowledge about the decomposition of plant residues in forest ecosystems. … This book is well structured and gives a comprehensive overview about the process of litter decompositions and it is a well written synthesis of the enormous work done by B.Berg during the last two decades." (Bernd Zeller, Annals of Forest Science, Issue 2, 2004)

Authors and Affiliations

  • Department of Soil Ecology, BITOEK, University of Bayreuth, Bayreuth, Germany

    Björn Berg

  • Department of Biology, Mount Union College, Alliance, USA

    Charles McClaugherty

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Plant Litter

  • Book Subtitle: Decomposition, Humus Formation, Carbon Sequestration

  • Authors: Björn Berg, Charles McClaugherty

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-05349-2

  • Publisher: Springer Berlin, Heidelberg

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

  • Copyright Information: Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2003

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-662-05349-2Published: 09 March 2013

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XII, 286

  • Number of Illustrations: 9 b/w illustrations

  • Topics: Ecology, Geoecology/Natural Processes, Nature Conservation, Plant Sciences, Microbiology

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