02057naa a2200169 a 450000100080000000500110000800800410001910000140006024501070007426000090018152013060019070000150149670000230151170000150153470000170154977303210156613147972008-09-15       2008    bl uuuu     u00u1 u    #d1 aHEDDE, M.  aBeech leaf degradation in laboratory experimentsbeffects of eight detritivorous invertebrate species.  c2008  aThis work addresses the impact of eight detritivorous species of soil macro-invertebrates (three millipedes, two woodlice and three earthworms) on short-term carbon mineralization and mechanical breakdown of beech leaves. The production rate, size class distribution and OMcontent of invertebrate faeces were also measured. Hierarchical clustering (HC) and multivariate analysis were performed to find relevant functional groups among the species studied. Our results identified three groups of macro-invertebrates on the basis of their impacts on beach leaf degradation (hierarchical clustering): (1) invertebrates that produce fresh faeces with high N contents compared with other species (i.e. polydesmidae and a single species of lumbricidae); (2) other lumbricidae that fragment litter into fine particles in their faeces and actively stimulate CO2 release; (3) other arthropods that fragment litter into coarse particles and have weak impacts on OM mineralization. These groups over-ride taxonomy, and are proposed as a tentative functional classification of litter dwelling invertebrates. On the other hand, an idiosyncratic impact of species was observed in each group, highlighting how much empirical data are still needed to propose a robust functional classification of litter invertebrates1 aBUREAU, F.1 aAKPA-VINCESLAS, M.1 aAUBERT, M.1 aDECAËNS, T.  tIn: INTERNATIONAL COLLOQUIUM ON SOIL ZOOLOGY, 15; INTERNATIONAL COLLOQUIUM ON APTERYGOTA, 12., 2008, Curitiba. Biodiversity, conservation and sustainabele management of soil animal: abstracts. Colombo: Embrapa Florestas. Editors: George Gardner Brown; Klaus Dieter Sautter; Renato Marques; Amarildo Pasini. 1 CD-ROM.