Leaf Litter Decomposition Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Leaf Litter Decomposition - Assignment Example Moreover, the experiment expected the tree species not to harbour the different soil animals. The maple and European Buckthorn are initially wet. Eventually they become very wet implying that the tree species harbour the soil animals. On the other hand, the maple and the European Buckthorn are greener and in regular sizes but eventually they decompose. This implies that the tree species decomposed. 2. Discuss what factors, that you observed, that may contribute leaf decomposition. What factors may contribute but were not measured? What was the average (&standard deviation) mass lost for each species? Where did the mass loss go? The observed factors that contribute to decomposition are the soil moisture and the plant composition. Temperature is also a factor which contributes to decomposition but it was not considered in this experiment. The wood decay is associated with the decay of the roots. The roots are the sole suppliers of moisture and nutrients to the entire plant hence they impact on the development of roots. Thus, the decay rates of woods will be similar to that of the leaves since the leaves obtain moisture and nutrients from the woods; whenever the woods are affected, the leaves are equally affected. Logging of trees results to the release of significant amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Thus, the rate of decomposition of the floor area is relatively lower than normal since the presence of lignin in the leaves lowers the decomposition rate. The concepts of this experiment fully relates with the concepts of a composting program such as the one found in the City of Toronto since everything revolves around composting. Thus, composting can be defined us the natural process or procedures which are meant to decompose the organic substances into a one rich soil which can be named as the compost. This experiment describes the concept such as