Consequences of biodiversity loss for litter decomposition across biomes

• Published in: Nature
• Main Authors: Handa, I. Tanya, Aerts, Rien, Berendse, Frank, Berg, Matty P., Bruder, Andreas, Butenschoen, Olaf, Chauvet, Eric, Gessner, Mark O., Jabiol, Jeremy, Makkonen, Marika, McKie, Brendan G., Malmqvist, Björn, Peeters, Edwin T. H. M., Scheu, Stefan, Schmid, Bernhard, van Ruijven, Jasper, Vos, Veronique C. A., Hattenschwiler, Stephan
• Other Authors: Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive (CEFE), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Montpellier (UM)-École pratique des hautes études (EPHE), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Centre international d'études supérieures en sciences agronomiques (Montpellier SupAgro)-Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Université Paul-Valéry - Montpellier 3 (UPVM)-Institut national d’études supérieures agronomiques de Montpellier (Montpellier SupAgro), Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement (Institut Agro)-Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement (Institut Agro)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD France-Sud ), Département des Sciences Biologiques, Université du Québec à Montréal = University of Québec in Montréal (UQAM), VU University Amsterdam, Nature Conservation and Plant Ecology Group, Wageningen University and Research Wageningen (WUR), Department of Aquatic Ecology, Swiss Federal institute of aquatic science and technology-IBZ, Institute of Integrative Biology IBZ, J. F. Blumenbach Institute of Zoology and Anthropology, Georg-August-University Göttingen, Laboratoire Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Environnement (ECOLAB), Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Institut Ecologie et Environnement (INEE), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National Polytechnique (Toulouse) (Toulouse INP), Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées (OMP), Météo France-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Météo France-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées, Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB), Berlin Institute of Technology, Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE), Department of Ecology and Environmental Science Umeå, Umeå University, Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Wageningen University and Research Centre (WUR), Universität Zürich Zürich (UZH), European Science Foundation (ESF) as part of the EUROCORES programme EuroDIVERSITY (BioCycle research project)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2014
• Subjects: Biodiversity loss; Litter; [SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology; Subarctic
• Online Access: https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-02636732; https://doi.org/10.1038/nature13247

International audience The decomposition of dead organic matter is a major determinant of carbon and nutrient cycling in ecosystems, and of carbon fluxes between the biosphere and the atmosphere. Decomposition is driven by a vast diversity of organisms that are structured in complex food webs. Identifying the mechanisms underlying the effects of biodiversity on decomposition is critical given the rapid loss of species worldwide and the effects of this loss on human well-being. Yet despite comprehensive syntheses of studies on how biodiversity affects litter decomposition, key questions remain, including when, where and how biodiversity has a role and whether general patterns and mechanisms occur across ecosystems and different functional types of organism. Here, in field experiments across five terrestrial and aquatic locations, ranging from the subarctic to the tropics, we show that reducing the functional diversity of decomposer organisms and plant litter types slowed the cycling of litter carbon and nitrogen. Moreover, we found evidence of nitrogen transfer from the litter of nitrogen-fixing plants to that of rapidly decomposing plants, but not between other plant functional types, highlighting that specific interactions in litter mixtures control carbon and nitrogen cycling during decomposition. The emergence of this general mechanism and the coherence of patterns across contrasting terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems suggest that biodiversity loss has consistent consequences for litter decomposition and the cycling of major elements on broad spatial scales.