An LTER workshop on decomposition processes was held at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Maine, in May, 1989. Representatives of each of the 17 sites shared information, new experiments and technologies were outlined, and two proposed experiments—litter bag and plot studies—were designed as a resource for the next several decades for both LTER and non-LTER scientists.
Benefits of the workshop included:
- Resulting data will increase understanding of how litter quality and environmental conditions interact in effects on decomposition rates
- The litter bag experiment will provide estimates of the “meta-stable” fraction of soil organic matter
- Decomposition model data will allow predictions of carbon dioxide fluxes from a wide range of vegetation types across the United States, and can be used in global climate circulation models
- The experimental design provides opportunities for non-LTER scientists to collaborate
- The plot experiment provides process-level information on above- vs. below- ground inputs to soil organic matter
- Analysis can be done centrally, ensuring uniformity and timeliness, and creating a central database