Relative effects of climate and litter traits on decomposition change with time, climate and trait variability

Canessa, Rafaella; Brink, Liesbeth van den; Saldaña, Alfredo; Ríos, Rodrigo S.; Hättenschwiler, Stephan; Mueller, Carsten W.; Prater, Isabel; Tielbӧrger, Katja; Bader, Maaike Y.

doi:10.1111/1365-2745.13516

Cited by 53 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…In our study, litter quality explained a major part of the variance in mass loss both after 3 months (73%) and 12 months (62%) of incubation on the global scale. This is in accordance with several studies showing a positive relationship between litter quality and mass loss or decomposition rate (Zhang et al, 2008;Kang et al, 2009;Djukic et al, 2018;Fanin et al, 2020;Canessa et al, 2021). However, the extent of the effects of climatic variables changed with the stage of decomposition, with precipitation being most important during the 3-month incubation and the air temperature during 12 months of incubation for Green and Rooibos teas.…”

Section: Impacts Of Climate and N Deposition On Litter Mass Losssupporting

confidence: 92%

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Effects of Climate and Atmospheric Nitrogen Deposition on Early to Mid-Term Stage Litter Decomposition Across Biomes

Kwon

Shibata²,

Kepfer‐Rojas³

et al. 2021

Front. For. Glob. Change

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Litter decomposition is a key process for carbon and nutrient cycling in terrestrial ecosystems and is mainly controlled by environmental conditions, substrate quantity and quality as well as microbial community abundance and composition. In particular, the effects of climate and atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition on litter decomposition and its temporal dynamics are of significant importance, since their effects might change over the course of the decomposition process. Within the TeaComposition initiative, we incubated Green and Rooibos teas at 524 sites across nine biomes. We assessed how macroclimate and atmospheric inorganic N deposition under current and predicted scenarios (RCP 2.6, RCP 8.5) might affect litter mass loss measured after 3 and 12 months. Our study shows that the early to mid-term mass loss at the global scale was affected predominantly by litter quality (explaining 73% and 62% of the total variance after 3 and 12 months, respectively) followed by climate and N deposition. The effects of climate were not litter-specific and became increasingly significant as decomposition progressed, with MAP explaining 2% and MAT 4% of the variation after 12 months of incubation. The effect of N deposition was litter-specific, and significant only for 12-month decomposition of Rooibos tea at the global scale. However, in the temperate biome where atmospheric N deposition rates are relatively high, the 12-month mass loss of Green and Rooibos teas decreased significantly with increasing N deposition, explaining 9.5% and 1.1% of the variance, respectively. The expected changes in macroclimate and N deposition at the global scale by the end of this century are estimated to increase the 12-month mass loss of easily decomposable litter by 1.1–3.5% and of the more stable substrates by 3.8–10.6%, relative to current mass loss. In contrast, expected changes in atmospheric N deposition will decrease the mid-term mass loss of high-quality litter by 1.4–2.2% and that of low-quality litter by 0.9–1.5% in the temperate biome. Our results suggest that projected increases in N deposition may have the capacity to dampen the climate-driven increases in litter decomposition depending on the biome and decomposition stage of substrate.

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Section: Impacts Of Climate and N Deposition On Litter Mass Losssupporting

confidence: 92%

“…The abiotic and biotic factors regulating decomposition can change over time (Berg and McClaugherty, 2020;Canessa et al, 2021). In our study, litter quality explained a major part of the variance in mass loss both after 3 months (73%) and 12 months (62%) of incubation on the global scale.…”

Section: Impacts Of Climate and N Deposition On Litter Mass Lossmentioning

confidence: 57%

Effects of Climate and Atmospheric Nitrogen Deposition on Early to Mid-Term Stage Litter Decomposition Across Biomes

Kwon

Shibata²,

Kepfer‐Rojas³

et al. 2021

Front. For. Glob. Change

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“…From similar granitoid parent material developed Cambisols under arid (pH 5.5-7.0) and Mediterranean (pH 4.5-6.1) conditions, and Umbrisols (pH 3.7-5.1) under humid conditions (29). Vegetation in arid sites covered 45% of the Cambisols and is dominated by cacti and drought-deciduous shrubs (30). In the Mediterranean woodland, vegetation is dominated by a dense herb layer, deciduous shrubs, and evergreen-sclerophyllous trees which covered 100% of the Cambisols (29).…”

Section: Study Sitesmentioning

confidence: 98%

Nitrogen Gain and Loss Along an Ecosystem Sequence: From Semi-desert to Rainforest

Abdallah¹,

Stock²,

Heeger³

et al. 2022

Front. Soil Sci.

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Plants and microorganisms, besides the climate, drive nitrogen (N) cycling in ecosystems. Our objective was to investigate N losses and N acquisition strategies along a unique ecosystem-sequence (ecosequence) ranging from arid shrubland through Mediterranean woodland to temperate rainforest. These ecosystems differ in mean annual precipitation, mean annual temperate, and vegetation cover, but developed on similar granitoid soil parent material, were addressed using a combination of molecular biology and soil biogeochemical tools. Soil N and carbon (C) contents, δ15N signatures, activities of N acquiring extracellular enzymes as well as the abundance of soil bacteria and fungi, and diazotrophs in bulk topsoil and rhizosphere were determined. Relative fungal abundance in the rhizosphere was higher under woodland and forest than under shrubland. This indicates toward plants' higher C investment into fungi in the Mediterranean and temperate rainforest sites than in the arid site. Fungi are likely to decompose lignified forest litter for efficient recycling of litter-derived N and further nutrients. Rhizosphere—a hotspot for the N fixation—was enriched in diazotrophs (factor 8 to 16 in comparison to bulk topsoil) emphasizing the general importance of root/microbe association in N cycle. These results show that the temperate rainforest is an N acquiring ecosystem, whereas N in the arid shrubland is strongly recycled. Simultaneously, the strongest 15N enrichment with decreasing N content with depth was detected in the Mediterranean woodland, indicating that N mineralization and loss is highest (and likely the fastest) in the woodland across the continental transect. Higher relative aminopeptidase activities in the woodland than in the forest enabled a fast N mineralization. Relative aminopeptidase activities were highest in the arid shrubland. The highest absolute chitinase activities were observed in the forest. This likely demonstrates that (a) plants and microorganisms in the arid shrubland invest largely into mobilization and reutilization of organically bound N by exoenzymes, and (b) that the ecosystem N nutrition shifts from a peptide-based N in the arid shrubland to a peptide- and chitin-based N nutrition in the temperate rainforest, where the high N demand is complemented by intensive N fixation in the rhizosphere.

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“…For example, Alnus cremastogyne , as a pioneer species, gradually decreases the soil pH through the secretion of organic acids during tree growth, thus increasing soil bacterial diversity ( Sun et al, 2018 ). The progressive accumulation of lignin-rich litter from oak trees on the soil surface along stand age provides a moist soil microclimate that supports the growth of anaerobic bacterial species ( Canessa et al, 2020 ). Additionally, forest stand age also affects microbial metabolic limitation via influencing soil nutrients.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soil Microbial Resource Limitations and Community Assembly Along a Camellia oleifera Plantation Chronosequence

et al. 2021

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Understanding soil microbial element limitation and its relation with the microbial community can help in elucidating the soil fertility status and improving nutrient management of planted forest ecosystems. The stand age of a planted forest determines the aboveground forest biomass and structure and underground microbial function and diversity. In this study, we investigated 30 plantations of Camellia oleifera distributed across the subtropical region of China that we classified into four stand ages (planted <9 years, 9–20 years, 21–60 years, and >60 years age). Enzymatic stoichiometry analysis showed that microbial metabolism in the forests was mainly limited by C and P. P limitation significantly decreased and C limitation slightly increased along the stand age gradient. The alpha diversity of the soil microbiota remained steady along stand age, while microbial communities gradually converged from scattered to clustered, which was accompanied by a decrease in network complexity. The soil bacterial community assembly shifted from stochastic to deterministic processes, which probably contributed to a decrease in soil pH along stand age. Our findings emphasize that the stand age regulated the soil microbial metabolism limitation and community assembly, which provides new insight into the improvement of C and P management in subtropical planted forest.

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Relative effects of climate and litter traits on decomposition change with time, climate and trait variability

Abstract: This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.

Cited by 53 publications

References 48 publications

Effects of Climate and Atmospheric Nitrogen Deposition on Early to Mid-Term Stage Litter Decomposition Across Biomes

Effects of Climate and Atmospheric Nitrogen Deposition on Early to Mid-Term Stage Litter Decomposition Across Biomes

Nitrogen Gain and Loss Along an Ecosystem Sequence: From Semi-desert to Rainforest

Soil Microbial Resource Limitations and Community Assembly Along a Camellia oleifera Plantation Chronosequence

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