Journal of Ecology and Environment

pISSN 2287-8327 eISSN 2288-1220

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Published online December 12, 2024
https://doi.org/10.5141/jee.24.076

Journal of Ecology and Environment (2024) 48:46

Roles of Chromolaena odorata, macrofauna, and forest edge on the decomposition rate of tree leaf litter in two types of seasonally dry tropical forest

Kasidit Rison1 , Marut Fuangarworn2,3 and Chatchawan Chaisuekul2,3*

1Ph.D. Program in Zoology, Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand
2Integrative Insect Ecology Research Unit, Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand
3Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand

Correspondence to:Chatchawan Chaisuekul
E-mail Chatchawan.c@chula.ac.th

Received: August 19, 2024; Revised: October 24, 2024; Accepted: November 11, 2024

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ The publisher of this article is The Ecological Society of Korea in collaboration with The Korean Society of Limnology

Abstract

Background: The forest edge of seasonally dry tropical forests (SDTF) is commonly invaded by Chromolaena odorata, which could affect the leaf-litter decomposition (LLD) rate through the litter fauna and the litter chemistry. We tested the effects of positions (edge vs. interior), C. odorata inclusion, and macrofauna inclusion using litterbags containing the two most dominant tree species from each forest type of SDTF (a dipterocarp deciduous forest and a mixed deciduous forest [MDF]), in northern Thailand.
Results: The results showed that leaf litter decayed at the same rate between the forest edge and interior. A difference in the decomposition rate between the edge and interior was only found in the MDF and only when the composition of the litter contained a high nitrogen (C. odorata) and phosphorous content (Pterocarpus macrocarpus – a native tree of MDF). Exclusion of macrofauna resulted in slower decomposition rates, but this effect was not significant when combined with the edge condition.
Conclusions: Our findings indicated that the forest edge condition has no directly significant effect on the LLD rate but is mediated through changes in the litter chemistry by inclusion of C. odorata litter.

Keywords: forest edge, invasive herbaceous species, leaf-litter decomposition, seasonally dry tropical forest

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Journal of Ecology and Environment

pISSN 2287-8327 eISSN 2288-1220