We regard “litter mass loss”, or “decomposition”, as the sum of CO2 release and
leaching of compounds, including both C compounds and nutrients. Leaching is
simply the loss of nutrients and incompletely decomposed organic compounds
transported out by water from the remains of decomposing litter
combined with the import of nutrients, results in the net accumulation of newly
formed substances. The relative magnitudes of the main flows (Fig. 2.1) are thus different
among litter types, and are influenced by litter chemical composition