Decay

Two sets of data are included in the data set “decay”. Both deal with decay rates of organic matter at Tierberg Karoo Research Centre under a mean annual rainfall of 170 mm/year. The first documents the rate of disappearance of wood of four species of Karoo shrubs differing in specific density of wood. The second data set deals with the rate of disappearance of faecal pellets of merino sheep – wither buried below the soil surface or placed on the soil surface in three habitats – namely plains with a low density of wildlife, a sheep farm stocked at 6 ha/SSU and in association with wildlife and termitaria (Microhodotermes viator). Our published conclusions were that wood on the soil surface has a half-life of 9-18 years and that sheep dung pellets had half-lives of 5 to 10 years, breaking down more rapidly when buried than on the surface.

Acknowledge as follows: Data are the property of SAEON and were collected by SJ Milton, students and assistants, funded by the National Research Foundation, the Percy FitzPatrick Institute, University of Cape Town, and the Department of Science and Technology (DST) through the Biota-DST “Tierberg Reborn project”