Worldwide decomposition rates depend both on climate and the legacy of plant functional traits as litter quality. To quantify the degree to which functional differentiation among species affects their litter decomposition rates, we brought together leaf trait and litter mass loss data for 818 species from 66 decomposition experiments on six continents. We show that: (i) the magnitude of species-driven differences is much larger than previously thought and greater than climate-driven variation; (ii) the decomposability of a species' litter is consistently correlated with that species' ecological strategy within different ecosystems globally, representing a new connection between whole plant carbon strategy and biogeochemical cycling. This connection between plant strategies and decomposability is crucial for both understanding vegetation-soil feedbacks, and for improving forecasts of the global carbon cycle.

This work shows the applicability of a set of protocols that can be widely applied to assess the impacts of global change drivers on species, communities and ecosystems.

Whether climate change will turn cold biomes from large long-term carbon sinks into sources is hotly debated because of the great potential for ecosystem-mediated feedbacks to global climate. Critical are the direction, magnitude and generality of climate responses of plant litter decomposition. Here, we present the first quantitative analysis of the major climate-change-related drivers of litter decomposition rates in cold northern biomes worldwide. Leaf litters collected from the predominant species in 33 global change manipulation experiments in circum-arctic-alpine ecosystems were incubated simultaneously in two contrasting arctic life zones. We demonstrate that longer-term, large-scale changes to leaf litter decomposition will be driven primarily by both direct warming effects and concomitant shifts in plant growth form composition, with a much smaller role for changes in litter quality within species. Specifically, the ongoing warming-induced expansion of shrubs with recalcitrant leaf litter across cold biomes would constitute a negative feedback to global warming. Depending on the strength of other (previously reported) positive feedbacks of shrub expansion on soil carbon turnover, this may partly counteract direct warming enhancement of litter decomposition.

Land use and climate changes induce shifts in plant functional diversity and community structure, thereby modifying ecosystem processes. This is particularly true for litter decomposition, an essential process in the biogeochemical cycles of carbon and nutrients. In this study, we asked whether changes in functional traits of living leaves in response to changes in land use and climate were related to rates of litter potential decomposition, hereafter denoted litter decomposability, across a range of 10 contrasting sites. To disentangle the different control factors on litter decomposition, we conducted a microcosm experiment to determine the decomposability under standard conditions of litters collected in herbaceous communities from Europe and Israel. We tested how environmental factors (disturbance and climate) affected functional traits of living leaves and how these traits then modified litter quality and subsequent litter decomposability. Litter decomposability appeared proximately linked to initial litter quality, with particularly clear negative correlations with lignin-dependent indices (litter lignin concentr tion, lignin:nitrogen ratio, and fiber component). Litter quality was directly related to community-weighted mean traits. Lignin-dependent indices of litter quality were positively correlated with community-weighted mean leaf dry matter content (LDMC), and negatively correlated with community-weighted mean leaf nitrogen concentration (LNC). Consequently, litter decomposability was correlated negatively with community-weighted mean LDMC, and positively with community-weighted mean LNC. Environmental factors (disturbance and climate) influenced community-weighted mean traits. Plant communities experiencing less frequent or less intense disturbance exhibited higher community-weighted mean LDMC, and therefore higher litter lignin content and slower litter decomposability. LDMC therefore appears as a powerful marker of both changes in land use and of the pace of nutrient cycling across 10 contrasting sites.

Although hemiparasitic plants have a number of roles in shaping the structure and composition of plant communities, the impact of this group on ecosystem processes, such as decomposition and nutrient cycling, has been poorly studied. In order to better understand the potential role of hemiparasites in these processes, a comparison of leaf and litter tissue quality, nitrogen (N) resorption, and decomposability with those of a wide range of other plant groups (involving a total of 72 species and including other groups with access to alternative nutrient sources, such as nitrogen fixers and carnivorous plants) was undertaken in several sub‐arctic habitats. The foliar N concentration of hemiparasites generally exceeded that of co‐occurring species. Further, hemiparasites (and N fixers) exhibited lower N resorption efficiencies than their counterparts with no major alternative N source. As a consequence, annual and perennial hemiparasite litter contained, on average, 3.1% and 1.9% N, respectively, compared with 0.77–1.1% for groups without a major alternative N source. Hemiparasite litter lost significantly more mass during decomposition than many, but not all, co‐occurring species. These results were combined with those of a litter trapping experiment to assess the potential impact of hemiparasites on nutrient cycling. The common sub‐arctic hemiparasite Bartsia alpina was estimated to increase the total annual N input from litter to the soil by ∼42% within 5 cm of its stems, and by ∼53% across a site with a Bartsia alpina stem density of 43 stems/m2. Our results therefore provide clear evidence in favor of a novel mechanism by which hemiparasites (in parallel with N‐fixing species) may influence ecosystems in which they occur. Through the production of nutrient rich, rapidly decomposing litter, they have the potential to greatly enhance the availability of nutrients within patches where they are abundant, with possible consequent effects on small‐scale biodiversity.