Nitrogen deposition stimulates decomposition via changes in the structure and function of litter food webs

Yin, Rui; Li, Qun; Tian, Senlin; Potapov, Anton M.; Zhu, Biao; Yang, Kun; Li, Zhiji; Zhuang, Liyan; Tan, Bo; Zhang, Li; Xu, Zhengfeng; Kardol, Paul; Schädler, Martin; Eisenhauer, Nico

doi:10.1016/j.soilbio.2021.108522

Cited by 27 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 69 publications

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“…The statistical analysis of community structure followed the approach used by Potapov et al (2019a) and Yin et al (2022). All of the analysis were performed in R version 4.2.1 (R Core Team 2022), and results were visualized using the ggplot2 package (v3.3.6).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Assuming that body size increases along trophic chains top level arthropods may prey in particular on preys with subduable body size, such as larvae of Diptera and Coleoptera as well as mesopredators of trophic level III such as Dermaptera and Apocrita. The consistent positive correlation among arthropods of each of the trophic levels points to indirect effects of low trophic level arthropods on higher trophic level taxa including top predators presumably reflecting the prevalence of generalist feeding and omnivory in belowground food webs (Scheu & Setälä 2002;Walton et al 2006;Digel et al 2014;Yin et al 2022).…”

Section: Density and Biomass Of Litter-dwelling Arthropods In Fragmentsmentioning

confidence: 95%

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Urbanization and urban habitat fragmentation do not compromise soil food web complexity and conservation value

Wang

Zhang

Qiao

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Urbanization-induced environmental changes such as habitat fragmentation impacts arthropod assemblages and food web-related ecosystem functions, such as nutrient cycling, carbon storage and energy fluxes. Yet, we lack insight into how arthropod food webs are structured along urban fragmentation gradients. Here, we investigated the community composition and food web structure of litter-dwelling arthropods along fragmentation gradients (green median strip, urban park, urban forest and natural forest). We found the density of litter-dwelling arthropods in median strip and urban park to be two to four times higher than in urban and natural forests, with, as indicated by literature-based stable isotope values, 67% - 68% of the individuals comprising primary consumers (trophic level I) in median strip and urban park. Urban forests, reserved for biodiversity conservation, hosted the least arthropod density, taxa richness, biomass and body mass, but were colonized by a high number of specialist arthropods, e.g. Archaeognatha and Isoptera. Food webs were most simple in urban forest, but more complex in median strip and urban parks, i.e. open fragments, with abundant primary and secondary consumers including decomposers. Chilopoda and Araneae formed the apex predators in fragments and mostly consumed other predators of trophic level III. The biomass of decomposed litter on the soil surface as major resource of the soil animal community significantly correlated positively with the density of arthropods of trophic levels I, III and IV. Supporting the dominance of bottom-up forces, the density of adjacent trophic levels consistently correlated positively. Overall, our results suggest that small size urban fragments maintain a diverse community of arthropods forming complex food webs and thereby may contribute to conserving biodiversity and providing important ecosystem functions.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Density and Biomass Of Litter-dwelling Arthropods In Fragmentsmentioning

confidence: 95%

Urbanization and urban habitat fragmentation do not compromise soil food web complexity and conservation value

Wang

Zhang

Qiao

et al. 2023

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…To disentangle effects of different fauna groups, two mesh sizes were used, fine mesh of 0.2 mm and coarse mesh of 5 mm. The fine and coarse mesh litterbags were used to evaluate the net contributions of microbe-and fauna-driven mass loss and were filled with 4 and 8 g litter (dry mass), respectively (Yin et al, 2022). The higher amount in the large mesh size litterbags was used as we assumed the litter to be decomposed faster due to access by macrofauna.…”

Section: Experimental Set Upmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…4 and Fig. S4; Tian et al, 2018, Yin et al, 2022. To compare the effects of different types of deposited compounds and earthworms on litter mass loss, we merged six models for each forest as one including the three types of deposited compounds and two mesh sizes.…”

Section: Statistical Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In each model, deposited compounds and earthworms were included as categorical variables (with and without) and the other variables as numeric; values of all variables were scaled to 0 -1 before modeling. Direct effects of Na on litter mass loss were built-in models of the coniferous forest according to the modification indices in R; direct effects of earthworms on SIR were removed to improve fitting (Shipley, 2009;Yin et al, 2022).…”

Section: Statistical Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Earthworms increase forest litter mass loss irrespective of deposited compounds -- A field manipulation experiment in subtropical forests

Yang

Tian

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Earthworms modulate the carbon and nitrogen cycling in terrestrial ecosystems, their effect may be affected by deposited compounds due to human activity such as industrial emissions. However, studies investigating how deposited compounds affect the role of earthworms in carbon cycling such as litter decomposition are lacking, although they are important for understanding the influence of deposited compounds on ecosystems and the bioremediation by applying earthworms. For this, we performed a 365-day in situ litterbag decomposition experiment in a deciduous (Quercus variabilis) and coniferous (Pinus massoniana) forest in southeast China. We manipulated nitrogen (N), sodium (Na) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) deposited compounds during litter decomposition with and without earthworms (Eisenia fetida). After one year, N, Na and PAH compounds all slowed down litter mass loss, with the effects of Na being the strongest. By contrast, E. fetida generally increased litter mass loss and their positive effects were uniformly maintained irrespective of the type of deposited compounds. Further, the pathways earthworms increasing litter mass loss varied among the types of deposited compounds and forests. As indicated by structural equation modeling, earthworms maintained their positive effects and mitigated the negative effects of deposited compounds by directly increasing litter mass loss and indirectly increasing soil pH and microbial biomass. Overall, the results indicate that the acceleration of earthworms on litter mass loss is not affected by deposited compounds, with the pathways of earthworms increasing litter mass loss varying among the types of deposited compounds and forests. This suggests that the effects of atmospheric deposited compounds and earthworms on terrestrial ecosystem processes need to be taken into account because earthworms may cancel out the detrimental influence of deposited compounds on litter decomposition.

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Earthworms increase forest litter mass loss irrespective of deposited compounds – A field manipulation experiment in subtropical forests

Yang

Tian

et al. 2023

Ecology and Evolution

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Earthworms modulate carbon and nitrogen cycling in terrestrial ecosystems, but their effect may be compromised by the deposition of pollutants from industrial emissions. However, studies investigating how deposited compounds affect the role of earthworms in carbon cycling such as litter decomposition are lacking, although the interactions of earthworms and deposited compounds are important for understanding the impact of pollutants on ecosystems and the potential of earthworms in bioremediation. We performed a 365‐day in situ litterbag decomposition experiment in a deciduous ( Quercus variabilis ) and coniferous ( Pinus massoniana ) forest in southeast China. We manipulated nitrogen (N), sodium (Na), and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) as model compounds during litter decomposition with and without earthworms ( Eisenia fetida ). After one year, N, Na, and PAH all slowed down litter mass loss, with the effects of Na being the strongest. By contrast, E. fetida generally increased litter mass loss, and the positive effects were uniformly maintained irrespective of the type of compounds added. However, the pathways to how earthworms increased litter mass loss varied among the compounds added and the two forests studied. As indicated by structural equation modeling, earthworms mitigated the negative effects of deposited compounds by directly increasing litter mass loss and indirectly increasing soil pH and microbial biomass. Overall, the results indicate that the acceleration of litter mass loss by earthworms is little affected by deposited compounds, and that earthworms have the potential to mitigate negative impacts of pollutants on litter decomposition and ecosystem processes.

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Nitrogen deposition stimulates decomposition via changes in the structure and function of litter food webs

Cited by 27 publications

References 69 publications

Urbanization and urban habitat fragmentation do not compromise soil food web complexity and conservation value

Urbanization and urban habitat fragmentation do not compromise soil food web complexity and conservation value

Earthworms increase forest litter mass loss irrespective of deposited compounds -- A field manipulation experiment in subtropical forests

Earthworms increase forest litter mass loss irrespective of deposited compounds – A field manipulation experiment in subtropical forests

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