2.3 Litter mass loss, C and N loss
The litter taken out of the litterbags was cleaned from debris using distilled water and dried at 60 °C for 72 h. Total C and N of litter were measured from the samples taken after 70, 210 and 365 days using an elemental analyzer (Elemental Vario Micro, Germany). From these data changes in litter mass, and amount of C and N was calculated and expressed as percentages of initial.