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[E-3.3 Roles of Plant Communities and Soil Organisms in Soil Formation]

[Contact Person]

Kenzi Takamura
Senior Researcher, Wildlife Conservation Research Team
Global Environment Division, National Institute for Environmental
Studies, Environment Agency
16-2 Onogawa, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305 Japan
Phone +81-298-51-6111(Ext.250), Fax +81-298-51-4732
E-mail takaken@nies.go.jp

[Total Budget for FY1990-1992]

33,826,000 Yen

[Abstract]

　Soil formation was investigated by revealing the supply of plant litter and the organization of soil animal communities on the forest floors of two forests of Peninsular Malaysia. One of the study sites was the Kepong campus of Forest Research Institute of Malaysia at Kuala Lumpur and another was the Pasoh Forest Reserve at Negeri Sembilan. Supply of plant litter at Kepong changed seasonally The highest monthly litter fall was 2.3 t/ha and the annual total was 12.0 t/ha. The standing stock of soil organic matter was 4.9 t/ha, thus the annual turnover rate was 2.4. This value indicated the rapid decomposition of plant litter on the forest floor, although it was situated in the lower range of turnover rates reported about lowland tropical forests. Soil animal communities were composed of various groups. In number, Collembola and Oribatid mites were predominant. In weight, termites and ants were predominant. Collembolans were separated into the soil-dwelling species and the surface-dwelling species. The former took organic debris mainly and the latter took fungi mainly. Decomposition of wood pieces in 5cm diameter showed that the decay constant was about 0.2, suggesting the very slow process. Based on the present results, further researches would proceed to evaluating the importance of each factor such as termites, collembolans, tree species, etc. in the process of soil formation.

[Key Words]

Litter, Termite, Collembolan, Decomposition, Dipterocarpacae