Canopy Closure Retards Fine Wood Decomposition in Subtropical Regenerating Forests

Wu, Donghao; Staab, Michael; Yu, Mingjian

doi:10.1007/s10021-021-00622-y

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…Likely differences between deadwood in gaps and covered plots will appear, as decomposition rates and decomposer abundance can be shaped by canopy openness (e.g. Griffiths et al, 2021; Wu et al, 2021) and as rapid growth of vegetation in gaps is expect. Thus, with ongoing time of the experiment, the initially negative effect on dung beetles might vanish if deadwood in advanced decomposition and regrown trees provide shelter or buffer microclimate.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Negative effects of forest gaps on dung removal in a full‐factorial experiment

Staab

Achury

Ammer

et al. 2022

Journal of Animal Ecology

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1. Ecosystem functioning may directly or indirectly-via change in biodiversityrespond to land use. Dung removal is an important ecosystem function central for the decomposition of mammal faeces, including secondary seed dispersal and improved soil quality. Removal usually increases with dung beetle diversity and biomass. In forests, dung removal can vary with structural variables that are, however, often interrelated, making experiments necessary to understand the role of single variables on ecosystem functions. How gaps and deadwood, two main outcomes of forest management influence dung removal, is unknown.2. We tested if dung removal responds to gap creation and deadwood provisioning or if treatment effects are mediated via responses of dung beetles. We expected lower removal rates in gaps due to lower dung beetle biomass and diversity.3. We sampled dung beetles and measured dung removal in a highly-replicated fullfactorial forest experiment established at 29 sites in three regions of Germany (treatments: Gap, Gap + Deadwood, Deadwood, Control). All gaps were experimentally created and had a diameter of around 30 m. 4. Dung beetle diversity, biomass and dung removal were each lower in gaps than in controls. Dung removal decreased from 61.9% in controls to 48.5% in gaps, irrespective of whether or not the gap had deadwood. This treatment effect was primarily driven by dung beetle biomass but not diversity. Furthermore, dung removal was reduced to 56.9% in the deadwood treatment. 5. Our findings are not consistent with complementarity effects of different dung beetle species linked to biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relationships that have been shown in several ecosystems. In contrast, identity effects can be pronounced: gaps reduced the abundance of a large-bodied key forest species (Anoplotrupes stercorosus), without compensatory recruitment of open land species. While gaps and deadwood are important for many forest organisms, dung beetles and dung removal respond negatively. Our results exemplify how

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Negative effects of forest gaps on dung removal in a full‐factorial experiment

Staab

Achury

Ammer

et al. 2022

Journal of Animal Ecology

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“…In highly altered systems, macroinvertebrates are often the main drivers of decomposition, whereas bacteria (but not fungi) play a supplementary role (Tresch et al., 2019 ). As conditions become cooler and wetter, fungi may overtake invertebrates as the main drivers of decomposition, although they are far less efficient than invertebrates (Wu et al., 2021 ). Our results suggest a similar pattern as fungal diversity was highest during the winter sampling session and marginally linked to increasing decomposition rates.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rewilding soil and litter invertebrates and fungi increases decomposition rates and alters detritivore communities

Contos,

Murphy,

Kayll

et al. 2024

Ecology and Evolution

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Habitat degradation and associated reductions in ecosystem functions can be reversed by reintroducing or ‘rewilding’ keystone species. Rewilding projects have historically targeted restoration of processes such as grazing regimes or top‐down predation effects. Few projects focus on restoring decomposition efficiency, despite the pivotal role decomposition plays in global carbon sequestration and nutrient cycling. Here, we tested whether rewilding entire communities of detritivorous invertebrates and fungi can improve litter decomposition efficiency and restore detritivore communities during ecological restoration. Rewilding was conducted by transplanting leaf litter and soil, including associated invertebrate and fungal communities from species‐rich remnant sites into species‐poor, and geographically isolated, revegetated farmland sites in a temperate woodland region of southeastern Australia. We compared communities in sites under the following treatments: remnant (conservation area and source of litter transplant), rewilded revegetation (revegetated farmland site with litter transplant) and control revegetation (revegetated site, no transplant). In one ‘before’ and three ‘after’ sampling periods, we measured litter decomposition and the abundance and diversity of detritivorous invertebrates and fungi. We quantified the effect of detritivores on the rate of litter decomposition using piecewise Structural Equation Modelling. Decomposition was significantly faster in rewilding sites than in both control and remnant areas and was largely driven by a greater abundance of invertebrate detritivores. Similarly, the abundance of invertebrate detritivores in rewilding revegetation sites exceeded the level of remnant communities, whereas there was little difference between control and remnant sites. In contrast, rewilding did not increase saprotrophic fungi relative abundance/diversity and there was no strong relationship between decomposition and fungal diversity. Our findings suggest the relatively simple act of transplanting leaf litter and soil can increase functional efficiency during restoration and alter community composition. Our methods may prove important across a range of contexts where other restoration methods have failed to restore ecosystem processes to pre‐degradation levels.

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