Litter quality and decomposition rates of selected species in the Ankasa Conservation Area, Ghana

AbstractDecomposition plays a crucial role in nutrient cycling, soil fertility and productivity in tropical forest ecosystems, and can be influenced by litter quality, although scanty information exists on these for some tropical forest tree species. The present study sought to compare the decomposition rates of leaf litter of three tree species (i.e., Baphia nitida, Dacryodes klaineana and Gluema ivorensis) and the influence of litter quality across three habitat types in the Ankasa Conservation Area. Using the litterbag technique, a total of 324 bags were buried across the three habitats for 360 days. Litter sample of the studied species was removed monthly to determine the mass remaining. At the start of the study, the litter chemistry of each species was determined using standard spectrophotometric methods. The decomposition rate was evaluated as the mass loss of each species at the end of the experiment. Differences in litter constituents and decomposition rates in the three species and habitats were evaluated using analysis of variance (ANOVA). The non-linear Spearman rank correlation was used to explore the relationships between litter mass loss and the initial litter quality. The results showed variations (p