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261 results for “litter decomposition”
Decomposition disentangled: a test of the multiple mechanisms by which nitrogen enrichment alters litter decomposition
<ol> <li>Nitrogen (N) enrichment has direct effects on ecosystem functioning by altering soil abiotic conditions and indirect effects by reducing plant diversity and shifting plant functional composition from dominance by slow to fast growing species. Litter decomposition is a key ecosystem function and is affected by N enrichment either by a change in litter quality (the recalcitrance of the plant material) or through a change in soil quality (the abiotic and biotic components of the soil that affect decomposition). How the direct and indirect effects of N alter soil and litter quality remains poorly known.</li> <li>We designed a large grassland field experiment manipulating N enrichment, plant species richness and functional composition in a full factorial design. We used three complementary litterbag experiments, combined in a structural equation model (SEM), to quantify the effects of the treatments and various measures of functional composition and diversity on litter and soil quality and overall decomposition.</li> <li>Our results revealed multiple drivers of litter quality and showed that nutrient concentrations (N and calcium) were about twice as important as structural components (leaf dry matter content, fibres) in determining litter quality. Overall the experimental results suggest that N enrichment increases litter decomposition mostly indirectly through a shift in functional composition toward faster growing plant species, producing higher quality litter. N enrichment also altered soil quality and thereby litter decomposition, through its effects on vegetation cover.</li> <li>Our approach provides a mechanistic tool to test the drivers of litter decomposition across different ecosystems. Our results show that litter quality is determined by several nutrient and structure traits and highlight the importance of considering shifts in plant species composition when assessing the effects of N enrichment on decomposition.</li> </ol>
How detritivores, plant traits and time modulate coupling of leaf versus woody litter decomposition rates across species
<p>1. Plant functional traits are increasingly used to understand ecological relationships and (changing) ecosystem functions. For understanding ecosystem-level biogeochemistry, we need to understand how (much) traits co-vary between different plant organs across species, and its implications for litter decomposition. However, we do not know how the degree of synchronous variation in decomposition rates between organs across species could be influenced by different keystone invertebrates decomposing different senesced plant organs, especially in warm-climate forests. Here we asked whether interspecific patterns in wood and leaf decomposition rates and in the spectra of resource economics traits underpinning them, co-vary across woody species; and how (much) the keystone invertebrate decomposers of the litter of these organs enhance or lower such co-variation of decomposition rates through time. </p> <p>2. We addressed these questions through an 18-month "common-garden" decomposition experiment using leaf, twig and branch litter of 41 woody species in two distant subtropical forest sites in east China. We quantified the effects of leaf, twig, and branch functional traits and their respective key invertebrates (moth larvae, termites) on the decomposition rates of those organs. </p> <p>3. Interspecific variation in wood traits was partly decoupled from that in leaf traits across species, while strong coupling was found between twigs and branches. The co-variation between leaf and woody organ decomposition rates was altered dynamically through the shifting activities of the key decomposers, which created non-linear relationships of invertebrate litter consumption as a function of species rankings along the resource economic trait spectra of leaves and branches.</p> <p>4. The deviations from coupling of decomposition rates between organs were likely caused by combinations of three mechanisms: (1) (de-)coupling between organs of other traits, not commonly considered in resource economics spectra (e.g., resins) (2) leaf and wood decomposers having specific diet requirements, and (3) temporal patterns of the decomposers' activity.</p> <p>5. Synthesis. Our study highlights the importance of considering the different ways by which invertebrate detritivores drive decomposition processes through time. Under the ongoing biodiversity decline, future research would benefit from a better understanding of the role of the dynamic interactions between detritivore activities and plant functional traits on the carbon turnover in ecosystems.</p>
Chionochloa rubra leaf litter decomposition at Mt Tongariro, New Zealand
<p><strong>Concept</strong>: Decomposition rates are an important component of carbon sequestration rates in soils, potentially mitigating future climate change. Here we aim to better understand decomposition's relationship with temperature in natural conditions.</p> <p><strong>Structure</strong>: In snow-tussock grassland dominated by <em>Chionochloa</em> <em>rubra</em> var. <em>rubra</em> on Mount Tongariro, Tongariro National Park, New Zealand, we measured decomposition of Chionochloa leaf litter along an ~ 700 m altitudinal gradient, as a space-for-temperature experiment, representing 4.2ºC of warming. For litter, we haphazardly collected attached, but achlorophyllous leaves, which were cut into 5 cm long segments and pooled per site. We examined decomposition rates in a full reciprocal translocation of litter bags between 8 plots as both the origin of 8 litter types and the 8 destinations of plating out of litter bags, over 4 years using 6 replicates. Litter decomposition bags, 20 cm x 25 cm in size, were of black nylon rectangular mesh with a pore size of 2 mm. We used 3.00 g of litter per bag, applied a wet/dry weight correction, and measured litter remaining after each time period. Bag recovery was 91 %. We went on to model decomposition's relationships to environmental variates.</p> <p><strong>Results</strong>: Litter decomposed progressively over time, but at the same rate along the altitudinal gradient. There was no home-field advantage. In terms of litter quality, decomposition rates were related only to litter lignin, or fibre or litter N. Only decomposition at Year 4, and that only when organised by litter destination, showed a relationship to mean annual temperature jointly with soil C, and this was only weak and implausible. When studied across the full reciprocal transplant, there were no significant interactions between Origin and Destination data with or without Years. Therefore litter from each plot decomposed at the same rate as other plots' litter at all altitudes, allowing for small, often irregular differences in litter quality and micro-environment. </p>
No home-field advantage in litter decomposition from the desert to temperate forest
<p>1. Litter decomposition rates are determined by the interplay of climate, decomposer organisms and litter quality. It has been suggested that the decomposer community may be locally adapted to litter quality, providing a home-field advantage (HFA) resulting in accelerated decomposition of local compared to non-local litter, after accounting for decomposition differences due to litter quality and the functional capacity of microorganisms. Although widely tested in forests, this hypothesis remains controversial and lacks a general support of its generality across climates.</p> <p>2. We therefore tested the HFA hypothesis for litter decomposition in four contrasting ecosystems along an extensive climatic gradient in Chile, using a translocation experiment involving litter from 20 species. In addition to comparing mass loss, we adopted a novel way to disentangle decomposer effects from climate effects, based on loss rates of elements that are actively released from the litter by decomposers during its breakdown vs. elements that are simply leached by precipitation. We used the ratios of nitrogen and potassium losses (N/K loss) and phosphorus and potassium losses (P/K loss) to unravel the relative role of microbial breakdown (N and P loss) vs. physical leaching (K loss) along the climate gradient. Thus, at each site, we tested whether litter mass loss, N/K loss and P/K loss presented an additional loss due to a HFA for local compared to non-local litter.</p> <p>3. Across a wide range of environments and 20 different litter types, our findings unequivocally contradicted the HFA hypothesis. We observed no significantly positive HFA along the gradient, however litter quality and the general ability of the decomposer community influenced litter decomposition much more strongly than origin or location of the litter.</p> <p>4. Our study questions the applicability of the HFA for litter decomposition and calls for more studies that include a large range of climatic conditions to understand the context-dependency of HFA.</p>
Pathways of glyphosate effects on litter decomposition in grasslands
<p>1. Grasslands store a third of global terrestrial carbon but are vulnerable to carbon loss due to inappropriate livestock grazing. Grasslands management can be improved with a mechanistic understanding of biogeochemical processes that determine carbon storage, such as plant litter decomposition.</p> <p>2. Herbicides, such as glyphosate, are used to improve the quantity and quality of the forage. In the Flooding Pampa, the most extensive cattle-grazed natural grassland and one of the few remnant temperate grasslands in South America, glyphosate is applied to promote <em>Lolium</em> <em>multiflorum</em>, a forage grass associated with a fungal endophyte non-toxic for cattle.</p> <p>3. We studied five mechanistic pathways in which the application of glyphosate can alter litter decomposition. We grouped them into single application pathways, through effects on living plants (1), leaf litter (2) and bare soil (3), and repeated annual application pathways, through legacies on ecosystem properties (4) and through the growth of an annual forage grass with a fungal endophyte (5). Single application pathways were tested in a greenhouse experiment using leaf litter of <em>L. multiflorum</em> and of a native dominant grass. Repeated annual application pathways were tested through a field experiment with 3-year annual glyphosate application using leaf and root litter of <em>L. multiflorum</em> with and without endophyte association.</p> <p>4. Glyphosate application on living plants produced leaf litter with 70% higher nitrogen content and 140% higher decomposition constant than naturally senesced litter. In contrast, glyphosate application on naturally senesced leaf litter reduced decomposition constant by 20%. Glyphosate application on the soil did not affect the decomposition of naturally senesced leaf litter but accelerated the decomposition of the glyphosate-killed plants even more.</p> <p>5. Legacies of repeated annual application of glyphosate resulted in a notable reduction in plant cover (45%) and potential soil respiration (57%), with a consistent acceleration of leaf (53%) and root (18%) litter decomposition. Furthermore, the association of endophytes in <em>L</em>. <em>multiflorum</em> plants reduced leaf litter decomposition by 22%. On the contrary, the association of endophytes did not alter root litter decomposition.</p> <p>6. Glyphosate application on living plants and legacies of repeated application on the ecosystem stimulate litter decomposition, which can result in a net carbon loss from grasslands. In other ecosystems, the net result on decomposition would depend on the relative cover of vegetation, aboveground litter, and bare soil. This study highlights that glyphosate application should be considered when evaluating sustainable management to preserve and enhance soil carbon storage in grasslands.</p>
Data from: Earthworm increase litter decomposition irrespective of deposited compounds
<p>Earthworms modulate carbon and nitrogen cycling in terrestrial ecosystems, but their effect may be compromised by the deposition of pollutants from industrial emissions. However, studies investigating how deposited compounds affect the role of earthworms in carbon cycling such as litter decomposition are lacking, although the interaction of earthworms and deposited compounds are important for understanding the impact of pollutants on ecosystems and the potential of earthworms in bioremediation. We performed a 365-day in situ litterbag decomposition experiment in a deciduous (<em>Quercus variabilis</em>) and coniferous (<em>Pinus massoniana</em>) forest in southeast China. We manipulated nitrogen (N), sodium (Na) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) as model compounds during litter decomposition with and without earthworms (<em>Eisenia fetida</em>).</p>
Tree diversity effects on litter decomposition are mediated by litterfall and microbial processes
<p>Forest ecosystems are critical for their carbon sequestration potential. Increasing tree diversity was shown to enhance both forest productivity and litter decomposition. Litter diversity increases litter decomposability by increasing the diversity of substrates offered to decomposers. However, the relative importance of litter decomposability and decomposer community in mediating tree diversity effects on decomposition remains unknown. Moreover, tree diversity modulation of litterfall spatial distribution, consequently, litter decomposition has rarely been tested. We studied tree diversity effects on leaf litter decomposition and its mediation by the amount of litterfall, litter species richness and decomposability, and soil microorganisms in a large-scale tree diversity experiment in subtropical China. Furthermore, we examined how litter functional identity and diversity affect leaf litter decomposability. Finally, we tested how leaf functional traits, tree biomass, and forest spatial structure drive the litterfall spatial distribution. We found evidence that tree species richness increased litter decomposition by increasing litter species richness and the amount of litterfall. We showed that soil microorganisms in this subtropical forest perform 84–87% of litter decomposition. Moreover, changes in the amount of litterfall and microbial decomposition explained 19–37% of the decomposition variance. Additionally, up to 20% of the microbial decomposition variance was explained by litter decomposability, while litter decomposability itself was determined by litter functional identity, diversity, and species richness. Tree species richness increased litter species richness and the amount of litterfall (+200% from monoculture to 8-species neighborhood). We further demonstrated that the amount of species-specific litterfall increased with increasing tree proximity and biomass and was modulated by leaf functional traits. These litterfall drivers increased the spatial heterogeneity of litter distribution, thus, litter decomposition. We highlighted multiple biomass- and diversity-mediated effects of tree diversity on ecosystem properties driving forest nutrient cycling. We conclude that considering spatial variability in biotic properties will improve our mechanistic understanding of ecosystem functioning.</p>
Data from: Litter quality controls tradeoffs in soil carbon decomposition and replenishment in a subtropical forest
<p><span>Species-rich forests can produce litter of varying carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) composition (<em>i.e</em>., quality), which can affect decomposition and play a central role in long-term soil organic carbon (SOC) accumulation. However, how differences in litter quality affect SOC decomposition and formation remains unclear over the full litter decomposition trajectory. </span></p> <p><span>We followed the <em>in-situ</em> complete decomposition of added <sup>13</sup>C-labelled high- (low C:N) and low-quality (high C:N) leaf-litter and its effect on particulate (POM) and mineral-associated (MAOM) organic matter fractions over two years in a natural subtropical forest.</span></p> <p><span>We found that during early stages of decomposition</span><span>, low-quality litter inputs decreased SOC via a positive priming effect (i.e., new C inputs favored decomposition of native SOC), but these SOC losses were offset by SOC gains observed via a negative priming effect during decomposition of high-quality litter. In contrast, this pattern reversed during </span><span>late</span><span> stages of decomposition</span><span>—SOC losses via a positive priming effect induced by </span><span>high-quality litter were offset by SOC gains via a negative priming effect induced by low-quality litter. </span><span>Over the full decomposition of litter, b</span><span>oth high- and low-quality litter stimulated</span><span> microbial breakdown of SOC tied to POM,</span><span> but </span><span>also replenished more persistent SOC that associated with soil minerals (MAOM).</span><span> Altogether, we observed</span><span> that low-quality litter formed twice as much new SOC as high-quality litter (24% vs. 12% of added litter-C). We extend the notion of the priming effect </span><span>from primarily a negative role promoting losses of native SOC, to a functional role that can replenish persistent SOC.</span> </p> <p><strong><em><span>Synthesis</span></em></strong><span><strong><em>.</em></strong> Our measurements</span><span> raise the possibility that, in species-rich forests, high- and low-quality litter decomposition play opposite but dynamically complementary roles in renewing POM—both by inducing its decomposition and formation—while exclusively favoring MAOM formation, which can help explain how differences in litter quality favor SOC accumulation and persistence. Global change factors that shift plant community composition may ultimately affect the fate of soil C, as changes in litter quality may force soil transitions </span><span>from sinks to sources or sources to sinks of atmospheric CO<sub>2</sub>.</span></p>
The effects of N-addition on litter mixture effects depend on decomposition time: a case from mixed-litter decomposition in the Gurbantunggut Desert
<p>Changes in nitrogen (N) deposition and litter mixtures have been shown to influence ecosystem processes such as litter decomposition. However, the interactive effects of litter mixing and N-deposition on decomposition process in desert regions remain poorly identified. We assessed the simultaneous effects of both N addition and litter mixture on mass loss in a litterbag decomposition experiment using six native plants in single-species samples with diverse quality and 14 species-combinations in the Gurbantunggut Desert under two N addition treatments (control and N addition). The N addition had no significant effect on decomposition rate of single-species litter (except <em>Haloxylon ammodendron</em>), whereas litter mass loss and decomposition rate differed significantly among species, with variations positively correlated with initial phosphorus concentration and negatively correlated with initial lignin concentration. After 18 months, the average mass loss across litter mixtures did not overall differ from those predicted from single-species either in control or N addition treatments, that is, mixing of different species had no non-additive effects on decomposition. The N addition, however, did modify the direction of mixture effects, and interacted with incubation time. Added N transformed synergistic effects of litter mixtures to antagonistic effects on mass loss after 1 month of decomposition, while transforming neutral effects of litter mixture to synergistic effects after 6 months of decomposition. Our results demonstrated that initial chemical properties played an important role in litter decomposition, while no effects of litter mixture on decomposition process in this desert region. The N addition altered the litter mixture effects on mass loss with incubation time, implying that increased N deposition in the future may have profound effects on carbon turnover to a greater extent than previously thought in desert ecosystems.</p>
Root litter decomposition is suppressed in species mixtures and in the presence of living roots
<p>Plant species diversity and identity can significantly modify litter decomposition, but the underlying mechanisms remain elusive, particularly for root litter. Here, we aimed to disentangle the mechanisms by which plant species diversity alters root litter decomposition We hypothesised that 1) interactions between species in mixed communities result in litter that decomposes faster than litter produced in monocultures; 2) litter decomposition is accelerated in the presence of living plants, especially when the litter and living plant identities are matched (known as home field advantage).</p> <p>Monocultures and a mixture of four common grassland species were established to obtain individual litter and a 'natural' root litter mixture. An 'artificial' mixed litter was created using litter from monocultures, mixed in the same proportions as the species composition in the natural litter mixtures based on qPCR measurements. These six root litter types were incubated in four monocultures, a four-species mixture, and an unplanted soil.</p> <p>Root decomposition was strongly affected by root litter identity and the presence, but not diversity, of living roots. Mixed-species litter decomposed slower than expected based on the decomposition of single-species litters. In addition, the presence of living roots suppressed decomposition independent of the match between litter and living plant identities. Decomposition was not significantly different between the 'natural' and 'artificial' root litter mixtures, indicating that root-root interactions in species mixtures did not affect root chemical quality.</p> <p>Synthesis: Suppressed decomposition in the presence of living roots indicates that interactions between microbial communities associated with living roots and root litter control root litter decomposition. As we found no support for the importance of home field advantage or interspecific root interactions in modifying decomposition, suppressed decomposition of mixed-species litter seems to be primarily driven by chemical rather than biotic interactions.</p>
The effects of N-addition on litter mixture effects depend on decomposition time: a case from mixed-litter decomposition in the Gurbantunggut Desert
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Optical traits perform equally well as directly-measured functional traits in explaining the impact of an invasive plant on litter decomposition
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Climatic stress-induced changes in plant chemistry alter the compound-specific degradation of litter during decomposition
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Data and code from: Inverse effects of soil moisture and litter quality on litter decomposition along a gradient from hyper-arid to temperate climate
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Data from: Tree litter functional diversity and nitrogen concentration enhance litter decomposition via changes in earthworm communities
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Plastic responses to hot temperatures homogenize riparian leaf litter, speed decomposition, and reduce detritivores
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Data from: Litter decomposition affected by bamboo expansion is modulated by litter-mixing and microbial composition
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Plant production decreases more than litter decomposition with rising aridity in drylands
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Data from: Soil moisture mediates the effect of plant belowground carbon allocation on the decomposition of root litter in a subtropical forest
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Data from: A literature synthesis resolves litter intrinsic constraints on fungal dynamics and decomposition across standing dead macrophytes
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