Influence of Soil and Plant Community Factors

Although litter chemical composition and climate appear to dominate as regulating factors in decomposition over a regional scale (cf. Chaps. 4–7), there are numerous factors that are important in regulating decomposition at the local, or even microscale. These are related to soil characteristics, nutrient availability and cycling, plant community composition and structure, and soil fauna. Some of these factors exert their influence by modifying the microclimate. Other factors operate primarily through biochemical or nutritional influences on microbial metabolism. Not only can these site-specific factors influence microbial metabolism, but they can also alter the composition of the microbial community, as was discussed in Chapter 3.