Forest fragmentation is a widespread issue affecting nearly all global forests. Over 70% of the world’s forests are within 1 kilometer of a non-forested edge. These forest edges create microclimate gradients within meters of each other, often resulting in stressful conditions for many organisms. For example, increased exposure to sunlight, wind, and precipitation at forest edges can lead to higher soil temperatures, elevated erosion rates, and drier conditions compared to the forest interior. Despite these significant effects, the impact of forest edges on leaf litter decomposition and invertebrate presence remains underexplored. Decomposition and soil invertebrates are fundamental to nutrient recycling processes in order to maintain healthy, nutrient-rich soil, which is fundamental to all terrestrial ecosystems. Decomposition of organic material such as leaf litter provides 90% of nitrogen and phosphorus, and over half of other necessary mineral elements. Soil invertebrates facilitate this process by chemically degrading dead plant material, subsequently enhancing the amount of plant available nutrients. Our research aims to investigate how forest edges affect leaf litter decomposition and soil invertebrate abundance and diversity. To study decomposition, I created leaf litter bags using metal and fiberglass mesh, filled with red maple leaves. Within Harvard Forest, a clearing of trees 200 meters by 45 meters was created a few years prior to simulate a human-made disturbance (clearcutting). Litter bags were deployed in the interior of a forest, edge, and clearing. I weighed leaves before and after deployment to observe how much mass was lost in the decomposition process. For the invertebrate experiment, I collected a standard amount of leaf litter from interior, edge, and clearing plots and deployed the samples in Berlese funnels to extract soil invertebrates present. The main goals were to analyze species richness, abundance, composition, and evenness to gain a comprehensive understanding of how soil invertebrate communities are affected by forest edges. We hypothesize that soil invertebrate communities will be less abundant and more even in forest clearings and edges, while being more abundant and diverse in forest interiors. Additionally, we expect that decomposition will occur more slowly at forest edges and in clearings compared to forest interiors. This research is vital for understanding the global impacts of widespread forest fragmentation on ecosystems.