The Influence of Island Area on Ecosystem Properties

Wardle, David A.; Zackrisson, Olle; Hörnberg, Greger; Gallet, Christiane

doi:10.1126/science.277.5330.1296

Cited by 552 publications

(611 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…In contrast to other studies in both tropical (Ewel 1976;Xuluc-Tolosa et al 2003) and boreal forests (Wardle et al 1997), we found that the leaves of successional tree species decomposed much more slowly than did those of old-growth forest species. Our results agree with those of Mesquita et al (1998), who also worked in central Amazonia and who reported decay rates of successional species that were 2.4-4.7 times lower than those of oldgrowth forest species.…”

Section: Effect Of Litter Typecontrasting

confidence: 55%

Influence of habitat, litter type, and soil invertebrates on leaf-litter decomposition in a fragmented Amazonian landscape

2005

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Amazonian forest fragments and secondgrowth forests often differ substantially from undisturbed forests in their microclimate, plant-species composition, and soil fauna. To determine if these changes could affect litter decomposition, we quantified the mass loss of two contrasting leaf-litter mixtures, in the presence or absence of soil macroinvertebrates, and in three forest habitats. Leaf-litter decomposition rates in second-growth forests (>10 years old) and in fragment edges (<100 m from the edge) did not differ from that in the forest interior (>250 m from the edges of primary forests). In all three habitats, experimental exclusion of soil invertebrates resulted in slower decomposition rates. Faunal-exclosure effects were stronger for litter of the primary forest, composed mostly of leaves of old-growth trees, than for litter of second-growth forests, which was dominated by leaves of successional species. The latter had a significantly lower initial concentration of N, higher C:N and lignin:N ratios, and decomposed at a slower rate than did litter from forest interiors. Our results indicate that land-cover changes in Amazonia affect decomposition mainly through changes in plant species composition, which in turn affect litter quality. Similar effects may occur on fragment edges, particularly on very disturbed edges, where successional trees become dominant. The drier microclimatic conditions in fragment edges and second-growth forests (>10 years old) did not appear to inhibit decomposition. Finally, although soil invertebrates play a key role in leaf-litter decomposition, we found no evidence that differences in the abundance, species richness, or species composition of invertebrates between disturbed and undisturbed forests significantly altered decomposition rates.

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Section: Effect Of Litter Typecontrasting

confidence: 55%

Influence of habitat, litter type, and soil invertebrates on leaf-litter decomposition in a fragmented Amazonian landscape

2005

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“…Thus, secondary succession might be expected to coincide with slower decomposition rates as far as plant effects are concerned. This was recently supported by ecosystem-level evidence from 50 boreal islands that varied in successional stage owing to increasing lightning frequency with island size (Wardle et al, 1997b). Higher decomposition and N mineralization rates corresponded to larger island size and therefore with earlier succession.…”

Section: Ecosystem Consequencessupporting

confidence: 53%

Leaf structure and defence control litter decomposition rate across species and life forms in regional floras on two continents

Cornelissen¹,

Pérez‐Harguindeguy²,

Dı́az³

et al. 1999

New Phytologist

442

365

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There is some evidence that traits of fresh leaves that provide structural or chemical protection (' defence ') remain operational in the leaf litter and control interspecific variation in decomposition rate in or on the soil. We tested experimentally whether the negative relationship between foliar defence and litter decomposition rate is fundamental, i.e. whether it is seen consistently across higher plant species and life forms, and whether it is repeated in the floras of geographically and climatically distinct areas separated by an ocean. We employed the published results of two outdoor litter bag experiments, in which we simultaneously compared the relative mass losses (' decomposibility ') of leaf litters of a wide range of plant species. One experiment was in Co! rdoba, Argentina, and included 48 Argentine species typical of the dry, subtropical landscapes along a steep altitudinal gradient. The other was in Sheffield, UK, and hosted 72 British species typical of the temperate-Atlantic landscape there. We linked the two experiments through a similar experiment in Sheffield that hosted litters of subsets of both the Argentine and British species. We also tested fresh leaves of all species from the same areas for tensile strength (' toughness ') and relative palatability to generalist herbivorous snails in multi-species ' cafeteria ' experiments. Both in Argentina and in Great Britain there were highly significant correlations between leaf palatability (r l 0.61 ; 0.73) or leaf tensile strength (r l k0.60 ; k0.60) and litter mass loss across all species. These relationships could be explained by variation both between and within broad life-form groups. Specific leaf area (area : dry mass) of fresh leaves was consistently correlated only with litter mass loss within British life form groups. We illustrated the possible ecosystem consequences of these relationships by comparing functional traits of British species differing in leaf habit. In comparison with deciduous species, evergreens generally had innately slow growth, which corresponded to their longer-lived leaves of lower specific leaf area, higher tensile strength and lower palatability to generalist invertebrate herbivores. Correspondingly, evergreens produced more resistant leaf litter. Thus, slow-growing evergreens might maintain their position in infertile ecosystems through leaf traits that help them to conserve their nutrients efficiently and to keep nutrient mineralization low, thereby not allowing potentially fast-growing deciduous species to outcompete them.

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“…Fire-based disturbance can lead to major shifts in a variety of environmental parameters that are likely to have large direct and indirect effects on the soil microbial community through niche-based processes. For example, fires typically result in an ephemeral pulse of ammonium (NH 4 þ ), creation of a reactive charcoal layer, and subsequent changes in pH (Peitikäinen et al, 2000;DeLuca and Sala, 2006;Wardle et al, 1997Wardle et al, , 1998. On the other hand, because fire causes large reductions in the standing soil microbial biomass (Hart et al, 2005;Wang et al, 2012), dispersal, which can be largely stochastic, may lead to an increase in the relative importance of neutral processes in early community assembly.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Changes in assembly processes in soil bacterial communities following a wildfire disturbance

et al. 2013

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Although recent work has shown that both deterministic and stochastic processes are important in structuring microbial communities, the factors that affect the relative contributions of niche and neutral processes are poorly understood. The macrobiological literature indicates that ecological disturbances can influence assembly processes. Thus, we sampled bacterial communities at 4 and 16 weeks following a wildfire and used null deviation analysis to examine the role that time since disturbance has in community assembly. Fire dramatically altered bacterial community structure and diversity as well as soil chemistry for both time-points. Community structure shifted between 4 and 16 weeks for both burned and unburned communities. Community assembly in burned sites 4 weeks after fire was significantly more stochastic than in unburned sites. After 16 weeks, however, burned communities were significantly less stochastic than unburned communities. Thus, we propose a three-phase model featuring shifts in the relative importance of niche and neutral processes as a function of time since disturbance. Because neutral processes are characterized by a decoupling between environmental parameters and community structure, we hypothesize that a better understanding of community assembly may be important in determining where and when detailed studies of community composition are valuable for predicting ecosystem function.

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The Influence of Island Area on Ecosystem Properties

Cited by 552 publications

References 24 publications

Influence of habitat, litter type, and soil invertebrates on leaf-litter decomposition in a fragmented Amazonian landscape

Influence of habitat, litter type, and soil invertebrates on leaf-litter decomposition in a fragmented Amazonian landscape

Leaf structure and defence control litter decomposition rate across species and life forms in regional floras on two continents

Changes in assembly processes in soil bacterial communities following a wildfire disturbance

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