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28 results for “decomposer community”
Consequences of non-random tree species loss on litter mass loss, nutrient dynamics, carbon cycling, and decomposer communities across a terrestrial-aquatic interface at Coweeta Hydrologic Lab, Otto, NC
Although litter decomposition is a fundamental ecological process, most of our understanding comes from studies of single-species decay. Recently, litter-mixing studies have tested whether monoculture data can be applied to mixed-litter systems. These studies have mainly attempted to detect non-additive effects of litter mixing, which address potential consequences of random species loss. The focus is not on which species are lost, but the decline in diversity per se. Under global change, species loss is likely to be non-random, with some species more vulnerable to extinction than others. Under such scenarios, the effects of individual species (additivity) as well as of species interactions (non-additivity) on decomposition rates are of interest. To examine potential impacts of non-random species loss on ecosystems, we studied additive and non-additive effects of litter mixing on decomposition. A full-factorial litterbag experiment was conducted using four deciduous leaf species, from which mass loss and nitrogen content were measured. Data were analysed using a statistical approach that first looks for additive identity effects based on the presence or absence of species and then significant species interactions occurring beyond those. It partitions non-additive effects into those caused by richness and or composition.
Dataset of fungal communities observed on decomposing pig carcasses in New Jersey
<p>This dataset contains estimated count data for fungal taxa identified using ITS metabarcoding collected from decomposing fetal pig carcasses placed in grasslands of New Jersey, USA.</p> <p>FungiPigDecomp_Data.csv is a file that contains the estimated count data at the level of taxonomic resolution possible for each replicate, at each stage of decomposition, across three body districts.</p> <p>FungiPigDecomp_Methods.docx is a summarized version of the sampling method relevant to interpreting the data.</p> <p>FungiPigDecomp_Descriptive.txt is a file describing the column headers in "FungiPigDecomp_Data.csv".</p>
Online Resources Chapter 3 - Decomposition of standing litter biomass in newly constructed wetlands associated with direct effects of sediment and water characteristics and the composition and activity of the decomposer community using Phragmites australis as a single standard substrate
<p>Online Resources to Chapter 3 "Decomposition of standing litter biomass in newly constructed wetlands associated with direct effects of sediment and water characteristics and the composition and activity of the decomposer community using Phragmites australis as a single standard substrate" of PhD thesis from Ciska Overbeek, "Peat formation on a former landfill - Production and decomposition of aquatic pioneer vegetation". </p> <p>Published by Overbeek et al in 2019 in Wetlands 39(1): 113-125. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-018-1081-y. </p>
Suspended sections within downed dead wood are drier, have altered decomposer communities, and slower decomposition
<div class="page"> <div class="layoutArea"> <div class="column"> <p>The decomposition of dead wood plays a key role in forest carbon emissions. Most pieces of downed dead wood are partially suspended above the forest floor, but how this suspension affects decomposition rates is typically ignored and remains largely unexplored. Here we combine field observations and experimental manipulations to explore how partial suspension of downed wood (i.e., wood debris in contact with the ground) influences decomposer communities and patterns of decomposition in a lowland tropical forest. Experimental manipulations of wood sticks showed that small-scale suspension above the forest floor (ca. 5 cm) slowed decomposition and altered microbial community assembly, regardless of whether the suspended section was connected to a piece of downed wood. Across a 41-year chronosequence of dead trees, the average percent of wood volume suspended above the forest floor decreased during the initial 10 years post-death, but this trend reversed after 10 years, with the oldest logs being the forest floor had less moisture, fewer macrofungi, and more photosynthetic growth (e.g., moss, algae, etc.) than downed sections of the same bole. Surprisingly, wood density, termite presence, and mass-specific respiration did not differ with ground contact. Combined, these data suggest that suspension within downed wood reduces moisture content, influences decomposer community assembly, and contributes to the strong variability in decomposition rates. The strong effect of partial suspension within downed wood pieces heightens concerns about the accuracy and applicability of experiments and surveys focused on down dead wood, which are the foundation of our understanding of wood decomposition and associated carbon losses most suspended. Among downed woody pieces sampled in situ, sections suspended above the forest floor had less moisture, fewer macrofungi, and more photosynthetic growth (e.g., moss, algae, etc.) than downed sections of the same bole. Surprisingly, wood density, termite presence, and mass-specific respiration did not differ with ground contact. Combined, these data suggest that suspension within downed wood reduces moisture content, influences decomposer community assembly, and contributes to the strong variability in decomposition rates. </p> </div> </div> </div>
Suspended sections within downed dead wood are drier, have altered decomposer communities, and slower decomposition
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Variability in terrestrial litter decomposition can be explained by nutrient allocation strategies among soil decomposer communities
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Plant communities, grazing intensity, soil properties and decomposers in grasslands across elevation in the Eastern Carpathians in Ukraine
<p>This data set contains information on plant community properties, grazing intensity, elevation, soil properties and density of soil decomposers collected in 2006 and 2007 from the 31 semi-natural grasslands exposed to cattle grazing along elevation gradient at large topographic scale ranging from the Carpathian Mountains, across the adjacent foothills to the plain areas. Plant community properties are represented by the following variables for each of the 31 study grassland: number of species (species number 100 m<sup>-2</sup>), number of functional groups 100 m<sup>-2 </sup>(that is, legumes, grasses, rushes and sedges, and non-legume forbs), proportion of undesirable weeds (%), number of species of legumes (species number 100 m<sup>-2</sup>), number of species of grasses (species number 100 m<sup>-2</sup>), number of species of rushes and sedges (species number 100 m<sup>-2</sup>), and number of non-legume forbs (species number 100 m<sup>-2</sup>). Grazing intensity is measured as cattle density (livestock units h<sup>-1</sup>). Soil properties are represented for each 31 study grassland by bare soil exposure (%) , soil organic carbon content (%), and soil pH. Density of soil decomposers are represented by biomass of earthworms g m<sup>-2</sup> and abundance of soil microorganisms cells × 10<sup>8</sup> g (dry soil)<sup>-1</sup>. Plant community composition is based on individual species' canopy cover. This dataset also contain information on the following plant traits for each plant species (n=175 species) found across the 31 study pastures across 2006 and 2007 sampling years: family of the plant species, belonging to legumes, grasses, rushes and sedges, non-legume forbs, and undesirable weeds. All data are averages across the two sampling years. </p>
Substrate quality drives fungal necromass decay and decomposer community structure under contrasting vegetation types
<p>1. Fungal mycelium is increasingly recognized as a central component of soil biogeochemical cycling, yet our current understanding of the ecological controls on fungal necromass decomposition is limited to single sites and vegetation types.</p> <p>2. By deploying common fungal necromass substrates in a temperate oak savannah and hardwood forest in the midwestern USA, we assessed the generality of the rate at which high- and low-quality fungal necromass decomposes; further, we investigated how the decomposer 'necrobiome' varies both across and within sites under vegetation types dominated by either arbuscular (AM) or ectomycorrhizal (EM) plants.</p> <p>3. The effects of necromass quality on decay rate were robust to site and vegetation type differences, with high-quality fungal necromass decomposing, on average, 2.5 times faster during the initial stages of decay. Across vegetation types, bacterial and fungal communities present on decaying necromass differed from bulk soil microbial communities and were influenced by necromass quality. Moulds, yeasts and copiotrophic bacteria consistently dominated the necrobiome of high-quality fungal substrates.</p> <p>4. Synthesis: We show that regardless of differences in decay environments, high-quality fungal substrates decompose faster and support different types of decomposer microorganisms when compared with low-quality fungal tissues. These findings help to refine our theoretical understanding of the dominant factors affecting fast cycling components of soil organic matter (SOM) and the microbial communities associated with rapid decay.</p>
Data from: Leaf litter diversity and structure of microbial decomposer communities modulate litter decomposition in aquatic systems
1. Leaf litter decomposition is a major ecosystem process that can link aquatic to terrestrial ecosystems by flows of nutrients. Biodiversity and ecosystem functioning research hypothesizes that the global loss of species leads to impaired decomposition rates and thus to slower recycling of nutrients. Especially in aquatic systems an understanding of diversity effects on litter decomposition is still incomplete. 2. Here we conducted an experiment to test two main factors associated with global species loss that might influence leaf litter decomposition. Firstly, we tested whether mixing different leaf species alters litter decomposition rates compared to decomposition of these species in monoculture. Secondly, we tested the effect of the size structure of a lotic decomposer community on decomposition rates. 3. Overall, leaf litter identity strongly affected decomposition rates, and the observed decomposition rates matched measures of metabolic activity and microbial abundances. While we found some evidence of a positive leaf litter diversity effect on decomposition, this effect was not coherent across all litter combinations and the effect was generally additive and not synergistic. 4. Microbial communities, with a reduced functional and trophic complexity, showed a small but significant overall reduction in decomposition rates compared to communities with the naturally complete functional and trophic complexity, highlighting the importance of a complete microbial community on ecosystem functioning. 5. Our results suggest that top-down diversity effects of the decomposer community on litter decomposition in aquatic systems are of comparable importance as bottom-up diversity effects of primary producers.
Data from: Melanization of mycorrhizal fungal necromass structures microbial decomposer communities
Mycorrhizal fungal necromass is increasingly recognized as an important contributor to soil organic carbon pools, particularly in forest ecosystems. While its decomposition rate is primarily determined by biochemical composition, how traits such as melanin content affect the structure of necromass decomposer communities remains poorly understood. To assess the role of biochemical traits on microbial decomposer community composition and functioning, we incubated melanized and non-melanized necromass of the mycorrhizal fungus Meliniomyces bicolor in Pinus- and Quercus-dominated forests in Minnesota, USA and then assessed the associated fungal and bacterial decomposer communities after 1, 2 and 3 months using high-throughput sequencing. Melanized necromass decomposed significantly slower than non-melanized necromass in both forests. The structure of the microbial decomposer communities depended significantly on necromass melanin content, although the effect was stronger for fungi than bacteria. On non-melanized necromass, fungal communities were dominated by r-selected ascomycete and mucoromycete microfungi early and then replaced by basidiomycete ectomycorrhizal fungi, while on melanized necromass these groups were co-dominant throughout the incubation. Bacterial communities were dominated by both specialist mycophageous and generalist taxa. Synthesis. Our results indicate that necromass biochemistry not only strongly affects rates of decomposition but also the structure of the associated decomposer communities. Furthermore, the observed colonization patterns suggest that fungi, and particularly ectomycorrhizal fungi, may play a more important role in necromass decomposition than previously recognized.
Data from: Are Cecropia trees ecosystem engineers? The effect of decomposing Cecropia leaves on arthropod communities
Ecosystem engineers structure species richness and the composition of biological communities. Although several studies have uncovered the importance of engineering environments, few studies have evaluated the effect of pioneering plants as ecosystem engineers, especially in tropical environments. When dead, Cecropia leaves become architecturally complex, acquiring a tridimensional shape due to desiccation, and may facilitate other organisms. Here we evaluate the role of these dead leaves in structuring species richness, abundance, biomass, and composition of macroinvertebrate communities on leaf litter in six protected areas of Brazilian Atlantic Rainforest. Predators were larger, more abundant, and presented higher standing stock in the presence of dead Cecropia leaves compared to soil debris (i.e., common leaf litter); however, detritivores had the opposite patterns. This resulted in shifts in body size structure of the assemblage, thus causing inversion of biomass pyramids to top-heavy in advanced stages of Cecropia leaves desiccation. Dead Cecropia leaves did not influence species richness and abundance of species, but they influenced the biomass of detritivores and predators in the communities. Our results demonstrated that pioneer trees can act as ecosystem engineers, by facilitating communities of invertebrate predators. In addition, our results suggest that the presence of Cecropia leaves can mediate trophic interactions and shape food web structure on the forest floor.
Ant body size mediates functional performance and species interactions in carrion decomposer communities
<p>Growing concern over rapid species declines and extinctions has led to considerable interest in the role of biodiversity for maintaining ecological processes. However, the loss of particular species has more pronounced effects on ecosystem services than others, highlighting the importance of key functional species traits and their relationships to ecosystem functioning. Human induced disturbances, such as species invasions, land use changes or abiotic changes, appear to disproportionally impact larger species rather than smaller ones. The loss of large-bodied species in the community diminishes key ecosystem services like seed dispersal, pest control, pollination and decomposition.</p> <p>Here we use carrion, a nutrient-rich ephemeral resource, to test the hypotheses that ants positively affect decomposition rates and that their role in the necrophilous community – as predator or decomposer – is mediated by body size. We further investigate the relative contribution of maggots vs. ants to biomass decomposition.</p> <p>Our results show that ants contributed positively to the decomposition process. Moreover, decomposition was shaped by an intricate interplay between competition and predation among the guild of decomposer insects. As predicted, larger ants show a double action in increasing decomposition rate and predating on maggots, while small ants are rather inefficient decomposers and did not act as predators on other decomposer species.</p> <p>Our study shows that differentiating key taxonomic groups in function of their body size is key to untangle the diversity and directions of the various roles they play within complex ecological processes.</p>
Plant community legacy effects on nutrient cycling, fungal decomposer communities and decomposition in a temperate grassland
<p>Soil legacies mediated by plant species-specific microbial communities are major drivers of plant community dynamics. Most soil legacy studies focus on the role of pathogens and mutualists in driving these processes, while much less is known about plant litter-mediated changes to the soil microbial community. Here, we used an existing plant-soil feedback field experiment in which plant communities with different growth strategies (i.e., fast versus slow) and different proportions of functional groups (grasses versus forbs) were allowed to condition the soil over contrasting temporal scales (i.e., one versus two years) in a natural grassland. In the feedback phase, we removed the existent plant community, and replaced it with a standardized response plant community. We then tested the legacy effects of these different soil conditioning treatments on decomposition processes, nutrient cycling and soil decomposer community composition. Soil legacy effects on decomposition and the soil decomposer community composition were most evident right after the start of the feedback phase, but disappeared soon after the new community established. The soil conditioning time and years since disturbance affected most of the soil functions consistently, while no strong effects of plant functional group and plant growth strategy were found. We conclude that after disturbance, it is recovery time, not soil legacy effects, that is the most important factor driving soil functions.</p>
Data from: Warming-induced functional shifts in the decomposer community interact with plant community compositional shifts to impact litter decomposition
<ol> <li>Climate warming is altering plant and soil microbial communities, with important implications for ecosystem processes like litter decomposition. As warming alters plant community composition, quality of litter will change. Further, shifts in microbial community activity and/or composition will alter microbial function. However, it is not yet completely understood how these shifts will interact to drive decomposition.</li> <li>We explored how changes in plant and microbial communities interact to influence litter decomposition using a 15-year-old grassland warming experiment. Previous studies within this system have shown that warming shifted the microbial community in ways that accelerate litter decomposition while simultaneously shifting the plant community in ways that may slow decomposition. Specifically, warming increased abundance of <em>Sorghastrum</em> <em>nutans</em>, while decreasing abundance of the previously dominant <em>Schizachyrium</em> <em>scoparium</em>. Using a series of lab-based microcosm experiments, we examined the rate at which eight common grasses and, separately, varying abundances of <em>S. nutans </em>and<em> S. scoparium </em>decomposed. Using litter and soil from the warming experiment, we then incubated soils from warmed or control plots with different abundances of <em>S. nutans </em>and<em> S. scoparium</em> in a reciprocal design.</li> <li>We found <em>S. nutans</em> to be the slowest-decomposing grass in our system. Further, decomposition slowed as <em>S. nutans</em> increased and <em>S. scoparium</em> decreased. When examining the interaction of plant and microbial communities, decomposition was generally greater early in our experiment as the relative abundance of <em>S. scoparium </em>increased. However, soil microbial community origin and litter composition interacted significantly. Specifically, decomposition increased with greater relative abundance of <em>S. scoparium</em> on soils derived from control plots, while litter composition did not shape rates of decomposition on soils from warmed plots. The influence of litter species on decomposition waned in the later stages of the experiment when decomposition was driven by microbial community origin.</li> <li>These results suggest that warming-induced changes in microbial community function may interact with changes in plant litter composition to mitigate the impacts of warming on rates of decomposition. This emphasizes the importance of considering concurrent warming-induced changes in both plant and microbial communities on ecosystem processes like decomposition.</li> </ol>
Data from: Are Cecropia trees ecosystem engineers? The effect of decomposing Cecropia leaves on arthropod communities
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Data from: Relationships between fungal community composition in decomposing leaf litter and home-field advantage effects
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Data from: Melanization of mycorrhizal fungal necromass structures microbial decomposer communities
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Data from: Leaf litter diversity and structure of microbial decomposer communities modulate litter decomposition in aquatic systems
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Plant community legacy effects on nutrient cycling, fungal decomposer communities and decomposition in a temperate grassland
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Plant communities, grazing intensity, soil properties and decomposers in grasslands across elevation in the Eastern Carpathians in Ukraine
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