Conclusion
In this study, we investigated the release efficiency of DOC, TDN and
TDP of the 12 types of leaf litter from temperate forests. We confirmed
that release efficiency was the highest in TDP during early leaf litter
decomposition, followed by DOC, and TDN release efficiency was the
lowest during the early leaf litter decomposition, regardless of the
species. More importantly, we found that the maximal release
efficiencies and amount of DOC, TDN and TDP from leaf litter were highly
species-specific. Furthermore, we found that the C:P and N:P ratios of
the total maximal release amounts were considerably lower than the C:P
and N:P ratios in leaf litter biomass, while the C:N ratio of total
maximal release amount was higher than the C:N ratio in leaf litter
mass. Considering the fact that leaf litter enters ambient aquatic
ecosystems, the present results suggest that changes in the vegetations
due to factors such as plantations and climate change can alter the
relative importance of aquatic detrital and grazing food chains
(Prentice et al. 1991, Hirama et al. 2022).