Fragmentation of leaf litter by a natural population of the millipede Julus scandinavius (Latzel 1884)

Summary The rate and degree of fragmentation of leaf litter by Julus scandinavius in a Sycamore/ash wood in Cheshire, England, were determined from the ratio of surface area of the leaf diet consumed by all individuals of each instar during the period when they were present on the surface area of leaf materials in the faecal pellets. Generally, the rate of fragmentation of leaf litter decreased in the series young instars sexed immature instars mature instars. The total degree of increase in the fragmentation of leaf litter by the population was 72×10⁶.