Table 2 Results of the exponential decay model during 6 months of decomposition in the field. k₆ is the decay rate assessed after 6 months of the experiment in the field and r₆ is Pearson’s correlation coefficient—values marked with the same letter do not differ significantly at p < 0.0001, based on one-way ANOVA and Tukey’s a posteriori test. The last three columns show a decay time for 50%, 90%, and 95% litter mass loss

Corydalis cava

6.4

− 0.68

a

28

56

63

Anemone ranunculoides

6.9

− 0.74

a

28

56

84

Anemone nemorosa

6.2

− 0.75

ab

28

70

91

Adoxa moschatellina

4.7

− 0.54

cd

14

63

63

Ficaria verna

5.4

− 0.63

bc

28

56

98

Paris quadrifolia

5.0

− 0.60

cd

21

49

84

Maianthemum bifolium

1.4

− 0.57

fg

56

-

-

Aegopodium podagrariaL

3.2

− 0.87

e

98

203

-

Mercurialis perennis

2.1

− 0.87

f

140

-

-

Aegopodium podagrariaS

0.2

− 0.18

h

322

-

-

Stachys sylvatica

0.9

− 0.84

gh

203

-

-

Asarum europaeum

4.1

− 0.58

de

35

63

-

Urtica dioica

1.1

− 0.82

fgh

203

-

-

Galeodbolon luteum

-

-

-

77

-

-

Alliaria petiolata

0.9

− 0.78

gh

-

-

-

Fraxinus excelsior

0.8

− 0.80

gh

196

-

-

Carpinus betulus

0.5

− 0.86

gh

-

-

-

Corylus avellana

0.3

− 0.76

gh

-

-

-

Acer pseudoplatanus

0.4

− 0.82

gh

-

-

-

Quercus robur

0.2

− 0.79

h

-

-

-