Los bosques tropicales son componentes claves el los ciclos del agua y el carbono y are

therefore highly relevant for global climatic process. They account for an estimated
32% of terrestrial net primary production (NPP, Field et al 1998).
La decomposition se refiere a la secuencia de procesos que break down organic matter,
leaching, fragmentacion y alteración quimica producing nutrients in available forms for
plant and microbiol production and releasing co2.
Litter decay usually shows two phases, with a negative exponential curve of mass loss
in the beginning, followed by more asymptotic linear curves caused by the relative
accumulation of recalcitrant material in the remaining litter with time (Berg 1984, cornu
1997). Leaching represents the initial step of decomposition, where small water soluble
organic compounds and ions dissolve in water and are transported into the soil.
Leaching losses are great in humid forest due to their high precipitation and induce a
pulse of microbial growth and respiration in times of high litterfall. Fragmentation is
performed primarly