Decomposition of grasses in a South African savanna

• Main Author: Masubelele, Mmoto Leonard
• Other Authors: Bond, William J
• Format: Dissertation
• Language: English
• Published: University of Cape Town 2014
• Subjects: Botany
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/6132

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 108-124) === Tropical and subtropical grasslands ecologists have ignored decomposition, because of the important role it plays in nutrient cycling, in terms of understanding how grass litter gets to the soil during the dry season. The major flaw is in the methods employed to investigate decomposition. In the prairies and steppes, litterbag methods employed investigate decomposition when litter is on the soil, even though the importance of carryover from standing litter is recognized. Standing litter results in high carryover which slows down decomposition thereby hindering productivity in the next growing season. I therefore decided to investigate the processes of photodegradation and microbial decomposition, as well as carryover and also how these processes differ between mesic and semi-arid grasslands. Since previous studies suggest that tallgrass prairies experience more carryover and slower decomposition than shortgrass prairies, I therefore hypothesized in this thesis that mesic grasslands will experience carryover and slower decomposition than semi-arid grasslands.