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Project summary:
Warra is a core site in the Asian Forest Ecosystems section of the International Biodiversity Observation Year (IBOY) program, and is a satellite site for further IBOY projects. The Global Litter Invertebrates Decomposition Experiment (GLIDE-IBOY) is an international study coordinated by Colorado State University and involving 20 countries in an investigation of global variation in the diversity of litter inhabiting invertebrates and their contribution to litter decomposition.
The data from all participating sites will ultimately be accessible from the GLIDE web page.
Methodology: Two rainforest sites at Warra were chosen: one dominated by Atherosperma moschatum / Eucryphia lucida, and the other dominated by Nothofagus cunninghamii. At each site four plots separated by at least 10 m were established, in August 2001.
All participating sites had been provided with standardised mesh bags containing gamma-irradiated grass straw (Agropyron cristatum) of known carbon/nitrogen ratio. Half of the mesh bags contained moth balls with the straw to exclude invertebrates (control bags) and half contained just straw (treatment bags). In each plot, three replicates of paired mesh bags (treatment and control) were pegged in contact with mineral soil on areas cleared of vegetation. One randomly selected pair of bags (treatment and control) was removed from each of the four plots at each site two months after installation, a further set two months later, and a further set a year after installation.
After collection, the litter-bags were weighed, invertebrates extracted using Tullgren funnels, and the samples sent to ‘BioTrack’ at Macquarie University for sorting. The litter-bags were then oven-dried, re-weighed and returned to Colorado State University for C:N analysis.
Datasets: None available.
Publications: Bashford, R., Taylor, R., Driessen, M., Doran, N. & Richardson, A. (2001). Research on invertebrate assemblages at the Warra LTER Site.Tasforests 13: 109-118.
Powledge, F. (2002). A look back at the International Biodiversity Observation Year. BioScience 52: 1070-1079.
Wall, D.H., Bradford, M.A., St John, M.G., Trofymow, J.A., Behan-Pelletier, V., Bignell, D.E., Dangerfield, J.M., Parton, W.J., Rusek, J., Voigt, W., Wolters, V., Gardel, H.Z., Ayuke, F.O., Bashford, R., Beljakova, O.I., Bohlen, P.J., Brauman, A., Flemming, S., Henschel, J.R., Johnson, D.L., Jones, T.H., Kovarova, A., Kranabetter, J.M., Kutny, L., Lin, K.C., Maryati, M., Masse, D., Pokarzhvskii, A., Rahman, H., Sabara, M.G., Salamon, J.A., Swift, M.J., Varela, A., Vasconcelos, H.L., White, D. & Zou, X.M. (2008). Global decomposition experiment shows soil animal impacts on decomposition are climate-dependent. Global Change Biology 14:1–17.
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