The importance of litter traits and decomposers for litter decomposition: a comparison of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems within and across biomes
1. Plant leaf litter comprises the major common source of energy and nutrients in forested soil and freshwater ecosystems world-wide. However, despite the similarity of physical and biochemical processes, generalizations across aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems regarding litter decomposition driver...
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British Ecological Society
2016
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Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10261/342044 https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.12589 |
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ftcsic:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/342044 2024-02-11T10:09:01+01:00 The importance of litter traits and decomposers for litter decomposition: a comparison of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems within and across biomes García-Palacios, Pablo McKie, Brendan G. Tanya Handa, Ira Frainer, André Hättenschwiler, Stephan European Commission 2016-05 application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/10261/342044 https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.12589 en eng British Ecological Society John Wiley & Sons #PLACEHOLDER_PARENT_METADATA_VALUE# info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/FP7/299214 Postprint https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.12589 No Functional Ecology: 819-829 (2016) 0269-8463 http://hdl.handle.net/10261/342044 doi:10.1111/1365-2435.12589 1365-2435 open Carbon cycle Forest floors Litter carbon loss Litter micronutrients Litter nitrogen loss Streams artículo 2016 ftcsic https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.12589 2024-01-16T11:56:26Z 1. Plant leaf litter comprises the major common source of energy and nutrients in forested soil and freshwater ecosystems world-wide. However, despite the similarity of physical and biochemical processes, generalizations across aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems regarding litter decomposition drivers remain elusive. 2. We re-analysed data from a published field decomposition experiment conducted in two ecosystems (forest floors and streams) across five biomes (from the tropics to subarctic) with increasing decomposer community complexity (microbes, microbes and mesofauna, microbes and meso- and macrofauna). 3. Using a wide litter quality gradient (15 litter combinations), we aimed to disentangle the roles of decomposer community complexity from that of leaf litter traits (18 traits encompassing four broad trait categories: nutrients, C quality, physical structure and stoichiometry) on litter C and N loss. Comparisons of decomposition drivers between ecosystems were evaluated across and within biomes. 4. Differences in environmental conditions (e.g. climate, soil/water fertility) and litter nutrients – with a particular focus on Mg and Ca – across biomes were the major drivers of litter C loss in both ecosystems, but decomposer complexity also played a prominent role in streams. Within biomes, we observed consistent effects of litter nutrients and stoichiometry on litter C and N loss between ecosystems, but the effects of decomposer complexity differed between streams and forest floors in the temperate, Mediterranean and tropical biomes. 5. Our results highlight that, beyond the litter traits commonly identified as controlling decomposition (e.g. C, N and lignin), micronutrients (e.g. Mg and Ca) can also play an important, and globally consistent, role in both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. In addition, in forest streams the complexity of decomposer communities had similar importance as litter traits for predicting litter C and N turnover across all five biomes. 6. The identification of common drivers in our ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Subarctic Digital.CSIC (Spanish National Research Council) Functional Ecology 30 5 819 829 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Digital.CSIC (Spanish National Research Council) |
op_collection_id |
ftcsic |
language |
English |
topic |
Carbon cycle Forest floors Litter carbon loss Litter micronutrients Litter nitrogen loss Streams |
spellingShingle |
Carbon cycle Forest floors Litter carbon loss Litter micronutrients Litter nitrogen loss Streams García-Palacios, Pablo McKie, Brendan G. Tanya Handa, Ira Frainer, André Hättenschwiler, Stephan The importance of litter traits and decomposers for litter decomposition: a comparison of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems within and across biomes |
topic_facet |
Carbon cycle Forest floors Litter carbon loss Litter micronutrients Litter nitrogen loss Streams |
description |
1. Plant leaf litter comprises the major common source of energy and nutrients in forested soil and freshwater ecosystems world-wide. However, despite the similarity of physical and biochemical processes, generalizations across aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems regarding litter decomposition drivers remain elusive. 2. We re-analysed data from a published field decomposition experiment conducted in two ecosystems (forest floors and streams) across five biomes (from the tropics to subarctic) with increasing decomposer community complexity (microbes, microbes and mesofauna, microbes and meso- and macrofauna). 3. Using a wide litter quality gradient (15 litter combinations), we aimed to disentangle the roles of decomposer community complexity from that of leaf litter traits (18 traits encompassing four broad trait categories: nutrients, C quality, physical structure and stoichiometry) on litter C and N loss. Comparisons of decomposition drivers between ecosystems were evaluated across and within biomes. 4. Differences in environmental conditions (e.g. climate, soil/water fertility) and litter nutrients – with a particular focus on Mg and Ca – across biomes were the major drivers of litter C loss in both ecosystems, but decomposer complexity also played a prominent role in streams. Within biomes, we observed consistent effects of litter nutrients and stoichiometry on litter C and N loss between ecosystems, but the effects of decomposer complexity differed between streams and forest floors in the temperate, Mediterranean and tropical biomes. 5. Our results highlight that, beyond the litter traits commonly identified as controlling decomposition (e.g. C, N and lignin), micronutrients (e.g. Mg and Ca) can also play an important, and globally consistent, role in both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. In addition, in forest streams the complexity of decomposer communities had similar importance as litter traits for predicting litter C and N turnover across all five biomes. 6. The identification of common drivers in our ... |
author2 |
European Commission |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
García-Palacios, Pablo McKie, Brendan G. Tanya Handa, Ira Frainer, André Hättenschwiler, Stephan |
author_facet |
García-Palacios, Pablo McKie, Brendan G. Tanya Handa, Ira Frainer, André Hättenschwiler, Stephan |
author_sort |
García-Palacios, Pablo |
title |
The importance of litter traits and decomposers for litter decomposition: a comparison of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems within and across biomes |
title_short |
The importance of litter traits and decomposers for litter decomposition: a comparison of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems within and across biomes |
title_full |
The importance of litter traits and decomposers for litter decomposition: a comparison of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems within and across biomes |
title_fullStr |
The importance of litter traits and decomposers for litter decomposition: a comparison of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems within and across biomes |
title_full_unstemmed |
The importance of litter traits and decomposers for litter decomposition: a comparison of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems within and across biomes |
title_sort |
importance of litter traits and decomposers for litter decomposition: a comparison of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems within and across biomes |
publisher |
British Ecological Society |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10261/342044 https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.12589 |
genre |
Subarctic |
genre_facet |
Subarctic |
op_relation |
#PLACEHOLDER_PARENT_METADATA_VALUE# info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/FP7/299214 Postprint https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.12589 No Functional Ecology: 819-829 (2016) 0269-8463 http://hdl.handle.net/10261/342044 doi:10.1111/1365-2435.12589 1365-2435 |
op_rights |
open |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.12589 |
container_title |
Functional Ecology |
container_volume |
30 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
819 |
op_container_end_page |
829 |
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1790608698676084736 |