Summary 1.Litter decomposition recycles nutrients and causes large fluxes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. It is typically assumed that climate, litter quality and decomposer communities determine litter decay rates, yet few comparative studies have examined their relative contributions in tropical forests. 2. We used a short-term litterbag experiment to quantify the effects of litter quality, placement and mesofaunal exclusion on decomposition in 23 tropical forests in 14 countries. Annual precipitation varied among sites (760-5797 mm). At each site, two standard substrates ( Raphia farinifera and Laurus nobilis ) were decomposed in fine-and coarse-mesh litterbags both above and below ground for approximately 1 year. 3. Decomposition was rapid, with >95% mass loss within a year at most sites. Litter quality, placement and mesofaunal exclusion all independently affected decomposition, but the magnitude depended upon site. Both the average decomposition rate at each site and the ratio of above-to below-ground decay increased linearly with annual precipitation, explaining 60-65% of among-site variation. Excluding mesofauna had the largest impact on decomposition, reducing decomposition rates by half on average, but the magnitude of decrease was largely independent of climate. This suggests that the decomposer community might play an important role in explaining patterns of decomposition among sites. Which litter type decomposed fastest varied by site, but was not related to climate. 4. Synthesis . A key goal of ecology is to identify general patterns across ecological communities, as well as relevant site-specific details to understand local dynamics. Our pan-tropical study shows that certain aspects of decomposition, including average decomposition rates and the ratio of above-to below-ground decomposition are highly correlated with a simple climatic index: mean annual precipitation. However, we found no relationship between precipitation and effects of mesofaunal exclusion or litter type, suggesting that site-specific details may also be required to understand how these factors affect decomposition at local scales.

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The stress gradient hypothesis (SGH) postulates how the balance between plant competition and facilitation shifts along environmental gradients. Early formulations of the SGH predicted that facilitation should increase monotonically with stress. However, a recent theoretical refinement of the SGH postulates stronger facilitation under moderate stress, followed by a decreasing role of facilitation in the most severe environments. We conducted field experiments along the most severe part of a coastal dune gradient in southeast Brazil to test the effect of stress on the intensity and importance of the net interactions between two tree species. First, we compared the performance of distinct life stages of Ternstroemia brasiliensis in the presence and absence of Guapira opposita adults along a beach-to-inland gradient, a gradient of environmental severity. To test the effect of one stress factor in particular, we also manipulated water availability, a limiting resource due to the sandy soils. At the most severe part of the coastal gradient (i.e. closest to the seashore), both intensity and importance of the interaction between G. opposita and T. brasiliensis were negatively related to stress, with a pattern consistent across distinct life stages of the target species. However, the sign of the net interaction depended on the life stage of the target species. Our results provide empirical evidence that the role of facilitation tends to wane, leading to neutral or even negative net interactions between species as stress reaches its maximum, as predicted by the recent refinements of the SGH.

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