Through their physical structure and especially their above- and
belowground litter inputs, trees have large impacts on chemical,
physical, and biological properties of the soil system , where
complex detrital food webs in turn recycle nutrients for plant
biomass production. Different tree species are likely to vary in their
influence on soil organisms and the processes driven by them
Compared to monospecific litter, increasing litter diversity may
improve nutrient availability and microclimatic conditions for microbial
decomposers and detritivores, thus, resulting in accelerated
decomposition of the constituent litter species It was
found that such litter diversity effects determine decomposition
rates to a large extent through their impacts on soil macrofauna