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Mycorrhiza and Litter Decomposition

Abstract

FORMATION of the mor type of forest litter, characterized by slow decomposition, has been attributed to a number of factors1–3, but the effect of mycorrhizal fungi, though postulated4,5, has not been studied experimentally. We have conducted an experiment in which root activity and thus mycorrhizal activity were reduced in small areas of an unthinned Pinus radiata stand. The following treatments (three replicates in a randomized block design) were applied to 1 × 1 m plots sited between the trees.

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References

  1. Handley, W. R., Forestry Commission Bull., No. 23 (1954).

  2. Kononova, M. M., Soil Organic Matter (Pergamon, Oxford, 1966).

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  3. Kühnelt, W., Soil Biology (Faber and Faber, London, 1961).

  4. Meyer, F. H., in Soil Micromorphology (edit. by Jongerius, A.), 23 (Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1964).

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  5. Mikola, P., in Mykorrhiza: Internationales Mykorrhizasymposium Weimar 1960, 277 (G. Fischer, Jena, 1963).

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  6. Lobanow, N. W., Mykotrophie der Holzpflanzen (VEB Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften, Berlin, 1960).

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GADGIL, R., GADGIL, P. Mycorrhiza and Litter Decomposition. Nature 233, 133 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1038/233133a0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/233133a0

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