中文摘要：

凋落物分解是森林生态系统中物质和能量交换的重要生态学过程。土壤动物在森林凋落物的分解过程中起着非常重要的作用。可以通过物理的或化学的方法研究土壤动物对凋落物分解的影响。笔者综合了目前该领域研究中常用的方法,如分解网袋法、化学试剂排除法、电击法、数学模型法等,分析了各种方法的特点和局限性,指出了今后研究的方向。

英文摘要：

Plant litter decomposition is one of the most important processes in nutrients cycling of （orest ecosystem. Soil fauna plays an important role in this process. Many physical and chemical methods could be used to study the effects of soil fauna on litter decomposition in fi）rests. Methods were discussed in this paper, such as litterbags, elimination with chemistry,electroporation, and mathematical modeling. Each method is incomplete. Linerbags can be used to study the impact of different kinds of soil fauna on the litter decomposition, but the mesh sizes of the bags can not exclude the soil fauna entirely. Although elimination with chemistry has a relatively better exclusion ability to the soil fauna, some kinds of chemicals may alter the microbe activity and lead lower estimation of the impact of soil fauna on the litter decomposition. Eleetroporation is the best way to reduce the earthworm, but it is unfit to other species. Mathematical modeling ean not estimate the litter decomposition rates accurately. With the development of the study, some studies on the quantity and appraisal of the soil fauna have also been made. As all of them are incomplete, they need to be further developed in some aspects in order to get more delicate relationship between soil fauna and the decomposition.