Hello Meric;

I don't have any citations of suggest but I do have a little study that might be productive.

Nutrient release from the plant material in the chaff pile must be related to the metabolic rate of the microbes in the material - it's really a compost pile. Maximizing that rate might be an advantage to the ants because doing so would raise the temperature of the pile. Brood that are often kept in the upper chambers of the pile would mature faster which both extend the season for the colony and accelerate the development of the larvae.

All that is needed is a stick with remote thermal sensors (more simply some telethermometer probes) attached to the stick at 5 cm intervals. Stab the stick into the pile's core and record the resulting temperature readings. Is there a thermal gradient? Which direction does the gradient run? Does the gradient change seasonally? There are many questions that might be answered by this simple device. If wood ants occurred in my region, I'd jump on that project.

Best regards, Jim Des Lauriers.

Here's my paper on decomposition. I hope it helps

Dear James Des Lauriers, Andrew Paul McKenzie Pegman and Elia Guariento

Thank you very much for your precious contribution.

I read a lot of articles and book about ants and how affects on nutrient cycles but very few study releated to ants and litter decomposition. Also, most of them determined litter decomposition in the ant nest. In this point I have a problem because I put litter bag adjacent the ant nest.

Keep working...

Thank you very much again

Meriç