Acknowledgements

This book would never have been written without generations of students

who participated actively in our courses in general ecology, soil ecology, and

ecotoxicology at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland. Further,

graduate students and colleagues at the University of Bayreuth, Germany,

and Oregon State University were helpful at diVerent stages of writing the

book.

Ryszard Laskowski: A number of our colleagues should be acknowledged

because, without their encouragement and help, we would never have under-

taken the challenge of writing this handbook. Professor Władysław

Grodzinski, the late head of the Department of Ecosystem Studies at the

Jagiellonian University, was the first who turned my research interests

toward litter decomposition studies and led the first research projects on

this subject at the Jagiellonian University. We had the great pleasure to work

together in a number of projects with Professor Krystyna Grodzinska, Head

of the Department of Botany, Polish Academy of Sciences. Her knowledge

matches her personal charm and friendliness, and it is hard for me to

imagine my scientific career without her help and cooperation. Among

those without whom this book would probably never have come into

being is January Weiner, professor and Head of the Department of Ecosys-

tem Studies at the Jagiellonian University. No other person has ever oVeredme so much encouragement and taught me so much about science in general.

Finally, I express my greatest gratitude to my colleagues from the Depart-

ment of Ecotoxicology, Jagiellonian University: Paulina Kramarz, Maciej

Maryanski, and Maria Niklinska, who helped me in my research for many

years. Particularly Maria and Maciej spent countless hours on our common

research on litter decomposition in European forests. The joy of

common fieldwork, long days and nights spent on chemical analyses, the

excitement of new findings is unforgettable.

Bjorn Berg: I want to thank Professor C. O. Tamm for all his support of

my work, both within the SWECON project and after, allowing a period

of no fewer than 18 years to be devoted to work on litter decomposition.

During the same period, I had really skilled, not to say fantastic, assistance

from my three laboratory assistants, Annette Ewertsson, Birgitta Holm, and

Ann‐Sofi Pettersson. The patient preparation and cleaning work of

viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

hundreds of thousands of litter‐bags at Jadraas Experimental Park resulted

in the creation of a large database that allowed, among other work, this

book to be written.

The support of Senior Scientist Per Gundersen during the European

Union CNTER project (Contract number QLK5–2001–00596) and during

my stay as a guest scientist at the Center for Forest Landscape and Planning,

KVL, Horsholm, Denmark, was essential for this book to be written. I also

thank Professor Egbert Matzner of the institute BITOK, University of

Bayreuth, Germany, for his support of this book.

Copenhagen, August 2005

Bjorn Berg

Krakow, August 2005

Ryszard Laskowski