Organic detritus decomposition

Organically bound matter (OM). Heavy metals/trace elements may be bound in living organisms, detritus, and organic matter of the soil. The organically bound trace elements or heavy metals are affected by the production and decomposition of organic matter. 

Detenbeck (37) and Detenbeck and Brezonik (38, 39) examined the effect of pH on phosphorus sorption for LRL sediments. Their results suggested that the flux of inorganic P from sediments could be diminished by as much as 90% if the pH of sediments decreased from 6.0 to 4.5. However, there was no observed treatment effect for TP and an apparent increase in SRP summer averages at pH 4.7 (Figure 4). Therefore, chemical sorption-desorption processes probably do not control phosphorus levels in LRL. The direction of response at lower pH implies that the balance between biotic uptake, deposition to sediments, and release from organic detritus by decomposition most likely controls SRP levels in the water column. 

Fenchel, T., 1970. Studies on decomposition of organic detritus derived from the turtle grass Thalassia testudinum. Limnol. Oceanogr., 15 14-20. 

Decomposition rates of organic detritus in wetlands is relatively slow compared with algal material. The generally slower rates of decay have been attributed to (1) anaerobic conditions, (2) acidity of the water, and (3) inhibition of decomposition by dissolved humic substances and secondary compounds. 

Humus The dark organic material in soils, produced by the decomposition of soils. The matter that remains after the bulk of detritus has beenconsumed (leaves, roots). Humus mixes with top layers of soil (rock particles), supplies some of the nutrients needed by plants -increases acidity of soil inorganic nutrients more soluble under acidic conditions, become more available, EX. wheat grows best at pH 5.5-7.0. Humus modifies soil texture, creates loose, crumbly texture, that allows water to soak in and nutrients retained permits air to be incorporated into soil. 

The object of the present study was to measure the ratios of organic carbon, nitrogen, and hydrogen in the detritus sinking in lake water and in the sediments and to discuss the decomposition processes of these components in order to gain basic knowledge concerning the mechanism of coal formation. 

In order to clarify the mechanism of microbiological decomposition of organic carbon and nitrogen of detritus in the lake water, the gaseous and nitrogenous components as well as the other chemical characteristics were determined in Lake Kizaki-ko, September 7-8, 1963 and October 28-31, 1963 when stagnation had greatly advanced in the lake. 

Fenchel, T. and Harrison, P., 1976. The significance of bacterial grazing and mineral cycling for the decomposition of particulate detritus. In 3.M. Anderson and A. Macfadyen (eds), The Role of Terrestrial and Aquatic Organisms in Decomposition Processes. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford, pp. 285-299. 

Hargrave, B.T., 1972. Aerobic decomposition of sediment and detritus as a function of particle surface area and organic content. Limnol. Oceanogr., 17 583-596. 

However, if the transition time of organic matter particles from one layer to another is short compared with Ds, then it is better to take H%iy = AjCa(, H e,i = A4C/,jI. In addition to these fluxes we should take into account the fluxes of detritus decomposition, solution of bottom sediments, and carbon consumption in the process of photosynthesis ... 

I would like to make a comment from the point of view of my time in the Inter. Bureau of Forestry at Hamburg. The difference between the forest in the tropical zones and in the temperate zones is mainly that the lowest content of organic matter in the Tropics is in the living part of the ecosystem and not in the detritus or in the humus. So if you cut the most living part of the ecosystem, you at once lose the main part of the nutrient contents, i.e., the main part of the organic matter. Secondly, the decomposition of the rest of the... 

Enriquez, S., Duarte, C. M., and Sand-Jensen, K. (1993). Patterns of decomposition rates among photosynthetic organisms Importance of detritus C N P content. Oecologia 94, 457—471. 

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