Temperature and Moisture Modulate the Contribution of Soil Fauna to Litter Decomposition via Different Pathways

Tan, Bo; Yin, Rui; Zhang, Jian; Xu, Zhenfeng; He, Shuqin; Zhang, Li; Han, Lei; Wang, Lixia; Liu, Yang; You, Chengming; Peng, Changhui

doi:10.1007/s10021-020-00573-w

Cited by 52 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…These latter authors noticed a 22.6% increase in litter decomposition when soil fauna was included in the decomposition of litter mixtures. Together, these findings suggest that soil fauna enhances litter decomposition in the mixture and plays a major role in driving positive litter mixture effects (Barantal et al, 2014; García‐Palacios et al, 2013), evident at regional and global scales (Tan et al, 2020). The overall neutral effect for the total observations seems to have resulted from the co‐occurrence of both positive and negative (non‐additive) effects of litter mixture on decomposition, which perhaps cancelled out each other (Chen et al, 2019).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Soil fauna accelerate litter mixture decomposition globally, especially in dry environments

et al. 2022

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1. More than half of the net primary production in terrestrial ecosystems returns to the soil through leaf litter fall and decomposition. In terrestrial ecosystems, litter constitutes a mixture of mainly senescent foliage from multiple species.Yet, the effect of litter mixing on litter decomposition rate remains ambiguous. Quantification of the soil fauna contribution and inclusion of their interaction with litter could remove the prevailing ambiguity, as soil fauna might influence the direction and magnitude of litter mixture effects on decomposition.2. We carried out a global meta-analysis to elucidate how soil fauna influenced litter mixture decomposition rate based on 55 published studies with 873 fauna inclusion/exclusion observations in field litterbag experiments. We hypothesized that soil fauna inclusion in litter mixture experiments would cause a positive change in the magnitude of mixed litter decomposition. That is, the presence of soil fauna would lead to synergistic litter mixture effects while the absence of soil fauna would lead to antagonistic litter mixture effects. Furthermore, we hypothesized that soil fauna would have a greater positive impact on the litter mixture effect in environments with low precipitation.3. While litter mixture had a neutral effect on decomposition on average across studies, non-additive mixture effects were common, with a key role for soil fauna, which generally enhanced decomposition rate compared to the component single-species litters. In contrast, fauna exclusion resulted in diminished decomposition rate overall. The overall synergistic soil fauna effect on litter mixture decomposition increased under low precipitation. Under high precipitation, the litter mixture effect was positive in the absence of soil fauna but non-significant in the presence of fauna. Climate imposes a great effect on litter mixture, with synergistic effects increasing towards the equator. 4. Synthesis. These results highlight the importance of soil fauna in mixed litter decomposition, most strongly in dry environments. In this era of global climate change, where some regions are projected to become drier, soil fauna might compensate the expected slower decomposition of litter by increasingly enhancing litter mixture decomposition.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Soil fauna accelerate litter mixture decomposition globally, especially in dry environments

et al. 2022

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“…Finally, the remaining residue mass was estimated by using the following equation: Rm (%) = X/X 0 × 100. Where, Rm is the remaining litter mass (%), X 0 represents the initial dry mass of litter (g); X is the dry mass of the litter remaining after retrieval (g) at time t [38], and priming effect: pf = ln(X 0 /X). Where, pf is the priming effect, X 0 is (g) is the initial organic residues mass, and X is the mass remaining.…”

Section: Organic Residues Decomposition Assaymentioning

confidence: 99%

Decomposition Rate of Organic Residues and Soil Organisms’ Abundance in a Subtropical Pyrus pyrifolia Field

et al. 2022

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The use of mulching, compost, and their interaction on organic residue (OR) decomposition rate (k), time of residue decay, primming effect, and soil organisms’ community composition was tested in a 16-year P. pyrifolia field experiment conducted from January 2020 to June 2021. A 2 × 2 factorial design was used with compost and mulching as the two factors within four blocks. OR decomposition was characterized by using litter bags with different mesh, and soil organisms were identified at family level. The half-decay rate (hd), total-decay rate (td), and remaining residue mass (Rm) varied among the organic residue management and mesh-type. The highest values of k and primming effect were found in litter bags with 15 mm2 size containing compost in the plots that received compost. For soil organisms’ abundance and richness, the highest values were found on plot that received both mulching and compost. The observed results suggested that the OR management determined organic matter decomposition, soil organisms’ abundance and richness in an Acrisols of the Southern Brazil. Soil organisms were the main factors contributing to the data variance (e.g., Acaridae, Blattidae, Chrysopidae, Halictophagidae, and Forficulidae).

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“…In particular, the MAP in temperate forests is lower than in tropical and subtropical forests (S1). In southwestern of China, higher precipitation leads to an increase in soil faunal diversity ( Tan et al, 2020 ), so that soil fauna effects are increased by MAP. Meanwhile, precipitation directly affects soil physical structure, stimulating soil fauna to decompose litter.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of soil fauna on litter decomposition in Chinese forests: a meta-analysis

Zan

Sun

2022

PeerJ

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Litter quality and climate have been presumed to be the dominant factors regulating litter decomposition rates on broad spatial scales. However, the role of soil fauna on litter decomposition is poorly understood, despite the fact that it could strongly influence decomposition by fragmentation and subsequent modification of the activities of microorganisms.In this study, we carried out a meta-analysis on the effects of soil fauna on litter decomposition rates in Chinese forests, ranging from boreal to tropical forests, based on data from 20 studies. The effects of climatic factors on decomposition rate were assessed by comparing the contribution of soil fauna to litter decomposition from studies carried out at different latitudes.The degree of influence of the soil fauna was in the order tropical (200%) > subtropical (47%) > temperate forest (28%). Comparing the effect size of soil fauna, it was found that when soil fauna was excluded, the decomposition rate, calculated using Olson’s equation, was most affected in tropical forest (−0.77), while the litter decomposition rate both subtropical (−0.36) and temperate forest (−0.19) were also suppressed to varying degrees (P < 0.001). These results highlight that soil fauna could promote litter decomposition to different extents. Using stepwise multiple linear regression, the effect size of the soil fauna was negatively correlated with the cellulose and nitrogen concentrations of the initial litter material. In Chinese forests, litter decomposition rates were reduced, on average, by 65% when soil fauna was excluded. The impact of soil fauna on decomposition was shown to be closely related to climate and litter quality.

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Temperature and Moisture Modulate the Contribution of Soil Fauna to Litter Decomposition via Different Pathways

Cited by 52 publications

References 55 publications

Soil fauna accelerate litter mixture decomposition globally, especially in dry environments

Soil fauna accelerate litter mixture decomposition globally, especially in dry environments

Decomposition Rate of Organic Residues and Soil Organisms’ Abundance in a Subtropical Pyrus pyrifolia Field

Effects of soil fauna on litter decomposition in Chinese forests: a meta-analysis

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