Decay and nitrogen dynamics of litter from disjunct, congeneric tree species in old-growth stands in northeastern China and Wisconsin

Geng, Xiaoyuan; Pastor, John; Dewey, Brad

doi:10.1139/b93-079

Cited by 23 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 29 publications

(45 reference statements)

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“…At local and regional scales where climatic variation is small, litter chemistry, especially nitrogen and lignin concentrations, becomes a stronger determinant of variations in decay rate of organic materials (Merrill and Cowling 1966;Fogal and Cromack 1977;Melillo et al 1982;Berg and McClaugherty 1987;Geng et al 1993).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Controls on mass loss and nitrogen dynamics of oak leaf litter along an urban-rural land-use gradient

Pouyat

Carreiro

2003

Oecologia

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Using reciprocal leaf litter transplants, we investigated the effects of contrasting environments (urban vs. rural) and intraspecific variations in oak leaf litter quality on mass loss rates and nitrogen (N) dynamics along an urban-rural gradient in the New York City metropolitan area. Differences in earthworm abundances and temperature had previously been documented in the stands along this gradient. Red oak leaf litter was collected and returned to its original source stand as native litter to measure decay rates along the gradient. To separate site effects from litter quality effects on decay, reciprocal transplants of litter were also made between stands at the extremes of the environmental gradient (urban and rural stands). Land-use had no effect on mass loss and N dynamics of native litter by the end of the 22-month incubation period. The lack of differences in native litter suggests the factors affecting decay were similar across the stands in this study. However, in the transplant study both environment and litter type strongly affected decay of oak leaf litter. On average urban and rural litter decomposed faster over the incubation period in urban than in rural stands (P=0.016 and P=0.001, respectively, repeated measures ANOVA). Differences in mass loss between urban and rural stands resulted in rural environments having less mass remaining than urban environments at the end of the incubation period (25.6 and 46.2% for urban and rural sites, respectively). Likewise, less N remained in leaf residue in urban sites (71.3%) compared to that in rural sites (115.1%). Litter type also affected mass loss rates during the 22-month incubation period. On average rural litter mass loss rates were faster than urban litter rates in both urban and rural stands (P=0.030 and P=0.026, respectively, repeated measures ANOVA). By the end of the incubation period, rural litter exhibited 43 and 20% greater mass loss and retained 44 and 5% less N than urban litter decomposing in the same urban and rural sites, respectively. These results suggest that different factors were controlling mass loss and N release rates along this urban-rural gradient. In urban stands, exotic earthworms and warmer temperatures may be compensating for what would otherwise be slowly decaying leaf litter because of its lower quality. Likewise, the lower quality litter produced in the urban stands may be decreasing the net release of N from litter despite higher temperatures and earthworm activity. Even though native litter decay rates were similar, the differential importance of the factors affecting decay along this gradient could alter the response of these forests to disturbance and variations in climate.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Controls on mass loss and nitrogen dynamics of oak leaf litter along an urban-rural land-use gradient

Pouyat

Carreiro

2003

Oecologia

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“…1993). 1989, Geng et a!. The general conclusion of these studies is that concentrations of nutrients, lignin, or a combination of these constituents are critical in determining litter decomposability (e.g., Melillo eta!.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Importance of Stream Microfungi in Controlling Breakdown Rates of Leaf Litter

Gessner¹,

Chauvet²

1994

Ecology

537

440

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Breakdown of seven leaf species covering a broad range of litter qualities (lignin: 7-31% of leaf dry mass; tannin: 0.0-6. 7%; nitrogen: 0.5-2.6%; phosphorus: 0.017-0.094%) and dynamics of fungal biomass and reproductive activity were studied in a softwater mountain stream. Litter breakdown proceeded at exponential rates k ranging from 0.0042 d-1 (evergreen oak) to 0.0515 d-1 (ash). Fungal colonization of litter was generally rapid, with the fungus-specific indicator molecule ergosterol increasing from initially negligible concentrations to 375-859 ~gig of detrital mass. Using species-specific factors relating ergosterol concentrations to mycelial dry mass, maximum fungal biomass associated with litter was estimated as 61-155 mg!g of total system mass. Minimum estimates of net mycelial production during active growth varied between 0.3 and 3.8 mg · g-1 • d -I, and maximum sporulation rates of aquatic hyphomycetes ranged from 7 60 to 7500 conidia·mg-1 ·d-1 • Initially, reproductive activity was largely synchronized with increases in ergosterol concentrations, but it declined dramatically after peak sporulation rates were reached, whereas ergosterol concentrations levelled off or decreased at considerably slower rates. Periods of highest fungal productivity were thus limited to an initial breakdown stage of ~ 2-8 wk. Strong correlations were found between the exponential breakdown coefficient and each of three parameters reflecting fungal activity in leaf litter, that is, maximum ergosterol concentration (P = 0.002, r = 0.96), net mycelial production (P = 0.02, r = 0.92), and sporulation rate (P < 0.001, r = 0.99). The initial lignin content of leaves was also significantly correlated with the rate constant k (P = 0.02, r = -0.83), suggesting that lignin was the primary factor determining litter quality and thus breakdown rate. The correlation was even stronger when data were logarithmically transformed (P < 0.01, r = -0.95). Tannin concentration was significantly correlated with k only when two high-lignin species were excluded from the analysis (P = 0.19, r = -0.56 compared with P = 0.05, r = -0.88), while initial concentrations of phosphorus (P = 0.17, r = 0.58) and particularly nitrogen (P = 0.82, r = 0.06) were poor predictors of litter decomposability. These results suggest that the initial lignin content of leaves controlled litter breakdown rate through a kinetic limitation of carbon sources for saprotrophic microfungi. The decomposer activity of these organisms, in turn, would then have governed breakdown rates. In doing this, fungi produced substantial amounts of both mycelial and conidial biomass that was potentially available to higher trophic levels of the food web.

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“…However, scientists from CMRSFE did not publish papers on Changbai forests in international journals until the early 1990s. The first five publications in the journals indexed in Thomson Reuter's Journal Citation Reports (or ISI journals) included Zhau and Zhau (1991) on nature reserve management, Barnes et al (1992) on the structure and composition of the mixed forest, Geng et al (1993) on leaf litter decay and nitrogen dynamics, Shao et al (1994) on forest dynamic simulations with a gap model, and Shao et al (1996) on forest cover mapping with remote sensing data. These pioneer works from CMRSFE laid the foundation for intensified efforts in forest research on Changbai Mountain over the past two decades.…”

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confidence: 99%

Long-term field studies of old-growth forests on Changbai Mountain in Northeast China

Shao

2011

Annals of Forest Science

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Decay and nitrogen dynamics of litter from disjunct, congeneric tree species in old-growth stands in northeastern China and Wisconsin

Cited by 23 publications

References 29 publications

Controls on mass loss and nitrogen dynamics of oak leaf litter along an urban-rural land-use gradient

Controls on mass loss and nitrogen dynamics of oak leaf litter along an urban-rural land-use gradient

Importance of Stream Microfungi in Controlling Breakdown Rates of Leaf Litter

Long-term field studies of old-growth forests on Changbai Mountain in Northeast China

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