ABSTRACT
Primary biological productivity is dependent on the constantly renewed input of solar radiation and on available sources of those inorganic elements essential for photosynthesis. The alternating uptake and biosynthesis of inorganic elements from the physical environments, release as a result of organic decomposition and eventual reuse constitutes the biological cycle. Decomposition is the process whereby the complex organic molecules in dead plant and animal tissues are ultimately broken down into their original inorganic constituents of carbon dioxide, water and mineral elements. The ecological equivalent of the earthworm and the typical and often dominant members of the soil fauna in tropical, subtropical and to some extent in warm temperate climatic regions is the termite. The amount of dead organic matter (DOM) and soil organic matter organic matter is then a function of three interrelated variables: litter production, decomposition of DOM and the fixation or binding of organic matter by the inorganic soil fraction.
