Litter stoichiometric traits have stronger impact on humification than environment conditions in an alpine treeline ecotone

Zhou, Yu; Wang, Lifeng; Chen, Yamei; Zhang, Jian; Liu, Yang

doi:10.1007/s11104-020-04586-1

Cited by 20 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 66 publications

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“…In January, the average temperature is −8 • C, and in July, it is 12.6 • C. The annual rainfall is approximately 700~1400 mm. The snow-covered season starts in November and lasts until the end of April (approximately 6 or 7 months) in the alpine zone [15,24]. The region is dominated by subalpine dark coniferous forests, and the main tree genera include Abies, Picea, Larix, Sabina, Pinus, etc.…”

Section: Study Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Figure 1 shows the monthly dynamics of the mean air temperature and rainfall. In this region, the growing season is from May to October, and the nongrowing season is from November to April [15]. The experimental site is located in a primary coniferous forest, and the elevation is 3900 m. The exposure is east by 5° north with an average slope of 36°.…”

Section: Sample Plot Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some metal elements are essential for biological enzyme production and function and play important roles as regulatory factors to maintain the normal life activities of plants [12,13]. Elements are not only involved in plant growth (e.g., magnesium (Mg) harvests solar energy by occupying the central position in the chlorophyll structure, and calcium (Ca) and Mg can drive leaf postmortem degradation, with manganese (Mn) having especially strong effects on lignin degradation [14,15]) but also critical for consumers (e.g., the cell concentration and membrane voltage of decomposers must be maintained by a sodium (Na) pump [16]). When any of the critical steps of metal and nutrient homeostasis are disrupted, the cells become dysfunctional, leading to disease (e.g., potassium (K) deficiency in plants causes the old leaves to appear yellow or exhibit white spots, leading to spot rot [17]).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Litterfall and Element Return in an Abies faxoniana Forest in Tibet—A Five-Year Study

Zhang

Wang

et al. 2021

Forests

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Forest litter is the main contributor to soil fertility and the main carrier of circulating material and energy in forest ecosystems. Abies faxoniana (Minjiang fir) is one of the dominant species in alpine forest ecosystems. Its litter input plays important roles in soil organic matter formation and biogeochemical cycles in these ecosystems, but the annual litterfall pattern and its components remain largely unknown. To determine the litter input and nutrient return of A. faxoniana, we measured the litterfall and element (carbon (C), nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), sodium (Na), magnesium (Mg), aluminium (Al), iron (Fe), and manganese (Mn)) contents of different litter components (branches, leaves and epiphytes) from 2016 to 2020. The results showed that the annual litterfall in the A. faxoniana forest ranged from 2055.96 to 5384.15 kg·ha−1·a−1, and the average mass proportions of branches, leaves and epiphytes were 30.12%, 62.18% and 7.7%, respectively. The litterfall yield varied significantly with time and component; not only was the yield of litter in the nongrowing season higher than that in the growing season, but it also exhibited dramatic interannual variations. We also found that time had significant effects on the contents of all elements except for Ca in the litter. The return and input amounts of each element followed the same dynamics, which closely resembled a bimodal pattern. Moreover, there was significant interannual variability in the returned amounts of each element. The ranges of annual returns of C, N and P were 744.80~2275.12, 19.80~59.00 and 1.03~2.81 kg·ha−1·a−1, respectively. The ranges of annual returns of K, Ca, Na, Mg, Al, Fe and Mn were 0.91~2.00, 7.04~18.88, 0.13~0.58, 0.33~1.20, 0.55~2.29, 0.41~1.37 and 0.16~0.48 kg·ha−1·a−1, respectively, reflecting a seasonal double-peak pattern. These results have important implications for understanding the biogeochemical cycles and material migration processes in alpine forest ecosystems.

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Section: Study Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Sample Plot Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Litterfall and Element Return in an Abies faxoniana Forest in Tibet—A Five-Year Study

Zhang

Wang

et al. 2021

Forests

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“…This region includes typical alpine shrub islands formed under natural conditions, which can respond sensitively to the aboveground and underground ecological processes influenced by climate change. The region has a typical alpine climate (Zhou et al, 2020;Wang et al, 2021 (Liu et al, 2010). Based on the United States Department of Agriculture Soil Taxonomy, the soils in the alpine shrub land are classified as Cryumbrepts, and the soils in the alpine meadows are Histosols (Zheng et al, 2019).…”

Section: Study Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

Soil Biological Community and Chemical Characteristics of Evergreen and Deciduous Shrub Islands in an Alpine Shrub Meadow

Sha

Jin

Wang

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Aim Global change is driving shrub expansion in alpine and Arctic tundra, increasing the size and number of shrub islands. This phenomenon can directly affect the vegetation microclimate and indirectly affect biogeochemical cycling. However, it is unclear how shrub island formation, with a shift in dominant vegetation from graminoids to deciduous or evergreen shrub islands, affects the alpine biochemical cycling of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and decomposer diversity and activity. Methods Two dominant shrub species in the alpine shrub meadow in the eastern Tibetan Plateau were selected. Rhododendron lapponicum (RL) represents evergreen shrubs, and Sorbus rufopilosa (SR) represents deciduous shrubs. Soil fauna community diversity, soil microbial biomass, extracellular enzyme activity and enzyme stoichiometry of the organic soil layer (OL) and mineral soil layer (ML) were determined. Results Presence of shrub islands significantly affected nutrient cycling and microbial processes. Compared with the SR shrub island, the RL shrub island featured lower soil total nitrogen and microbial biomass carbon; lower total microbial phospholipid fatty acid, Gram-negative bacteria and total bacteria contents; and higher enzyme activities of β-glucosidase, cellobiohydrolase, β-N-acetylglucosaminidase, peroxidase and polyphenol oxidase. The OL response was greater than the ML response, especially in terms of enzyme activities. Conclusion Evergreen and deciduous shrub islands in an alpine shrub meadow had differences in soil biological communities and nutrient cycling, we suspect the OL was more sensitive than the ML to the shrub expansion in the alpine tundra.

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“…Therefore, the reported responses of litter decomposition and nutrient release to N deposition are conflicting 8 and include enhancement 19 , 20 , suppression 21 , 22 , and no response 23 , 24 . Litter stoichiometry traits are important regulators of litter decomposition 25 that are affected by initial C, N, and phosphorus (P) contents as well as by their C/N and C/P ratios 26 . Generally, the higher C/N and C/P ratios of the litter can negatively affect the mineralization of N and P during litter decomposition 27 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Simulated atmospheric nitrogen deposition inhibited the leaf litter decomposition of Cinnamomum migao H. W. Li in Southwest China

Huang

Chen

Deng

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

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Atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition could affect various ecological processes in forest ecosystems, including plant litter decomposition and nutrient cycling. However, the mechanism of underlying litter decomposition and nutrient cycling of Cinnamomum migao under N deposition remains unclear. Therefore, we conducted a simulated N deposition experiment including four onsite treatments to assess the effects of N input on C. migao leaf litter decomposition, nutrient release, and soil enzyme activity. The results showed that simulated N deposition significantly increased the amount of total residual mass and lignin and cellulose, decreased the decomposition rate, and suppressed net nutrient release. N input increased C, N, and P ratios as decomposition progressed, and the proportion of mass remaining was positively correlated with the proportions of lignin and cellulose remaining at the later stage of decomposition. The differences in soil enzyme activity were primarily due to enzyme type and sampling time. We conclude that simulated N deposition significantly suppressed the leaf litter decomposition of C. migao by mainly altering the chemical properties and suppressing the decomposition of the organic matter in leaf litter. Lignin might have played an important role in the loss of leaf litter biomass at the later stage of decomposition.

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Litter stoichiometric traits have stronger impact on humification than environment conditions in an alpine treeline ecotone

Cited by 20 publications

References 66 publications

Litterfall and Element Return in an Abies faxoniana Forest in Tibet—A Five-Year Study

Litterfall and Element Return in an Abies faxoniana Forest in Tibet—A Five-Year Study

Soil Biological Community and Chemical Characteristics of Evergreen and Deciduous Shrub Islands in an Alpine Shrub Meadow

Simulated atmospheric nitrogen deposition inhibited the leaf litter decomposition of Cinnamomum migao H. W. Li in Southwest China

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