Leaf litter decomposition of deciduous Quercus acutissima Carruth. and evergreen Quercus glauca Thunb. in an inter-site experiment in three contrasting temperate forest stands in South Korea

Table 4 Inter-site decomposition constant (k, year⁻¹) and half-time (t_0.5) value of Quercus acutissima and Q. glauca at Cheongsu (CS), Seonheul (SH), and Chungnam National University (CNU) Experimental Forest

Decomposition constant (k) was calculated from a single exponential model by nonlinear OLS (ordinary least square) regression. Different lowercase letters indicate significant differences of k by sites for each species (ANOVA, followed by Tukey’s multiple comparison; p<0.05). Standard errors are in parentheses. r² coefficient of determination. Half-life value, 0.693/k (i.e., the time for the leaf litter residue to lose half their initial mass) (Olson 1963)

ISSN: 1297-966X