What drives leaf litter decomposition and the decomposer community in subtropical forests – The richness of the above-ground tree community or that of the leaf litter?

Lin, Hong; Li, Yinong; Bruelheide, Helge; Zhang, Sirong; Ren, Haibao; Zhang, Naili; Ma, Keping

doi:10.1016/j.soilbio.2021.108314

Cited by 30 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 82 publications

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“…Previous studies reported cases of higher soil nutrient availability and plant nutrient concentrations in more diverse neighbourhoods in comparison to less diverse ones (Zak et al 2003; Fargione et al 2007; Dybzinski et al 2008). This pattern has been suggested to result primarily from a) resource-use complementarity (Ashton et al 2010; McKane et al 2002), b) increased litter diversity, abundance and decomposability (Huang et al 2017; Lin et al 2021), and c) increased nutrient uptake arising from of higher microbial diversity. A greater diversity of fungi and bacteria has been shown to improve ecosystem soil functions, for example by increasing plant nutrient uptake and litter decomposition (Wagg et al 2019).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, several studies showed higher soil total phosphorus supply in species mixtures, because a greater number of different forms of soil P were used compared to those present in monocultures (Zou, Binkley, and Caldwell 1995; Bu et al 2020). Additionally, in forests, increased species richness can increase litter diversity, abundance (Huang et al 2017) and decomposition (Lin et al 2021), thus increasing the incorporation of organic matter in the soil and contributing to enriching it with nutrients (Gartner and Cardon 2004). Aboveground, species richness has been positively linked to the spatial complementarity of tree crowns (or “canopy packing”, Jucker, Bouriaud, & Coomes, 2015), that is, a more complete use of available space for the canopies resulting in an improved interception of incoming light.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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High within-tree leaf trait variation and its response to species diversity and soil nutrients

Davrinche

Bittner

Bruelheide

et al. 2023

Preprint

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1. Leaf functional traits provide important insights into plants' responses to different environments. Leaf traits have been increasingly studied within-species in the last decade, following the growing realisation that neglecting the intra-specific scale can result in misreading plants' response to environmental change. However, while likely to lead to similar pitfalls, within-individual leaf traits are under-researched despite being the scale at which elementary interactions shape ecosystem processes. 2. To address this critical lack of understanding at the local scale, we assessed leaf trait variation in a large biodiversity-ecosystem functioning experiment in subtropical China. We used optical spectroscopy to determine nine morphological and biochemical traits of >5800 leaves from 414 trees representing 14 species. We evaluated the relative importance of the intra-individual level for total leaf trait variation, and the interacting effect of two trait variation's drivers, soil nutrient availability, and a local species richness gradient. 3. Comparing the amount of trait variation at the between-species, between-individuals and intra-individual levels, we found that intra-individual variation accounted on average for >25% of total trait variation. Additionally, intra-individual variation was the most prominent component of intra-specific variation. We found partial support for positive effects of soil nutrient availability and species diversity on intra-individual trait variation, and a strong interdependence of both effects. Contrary to the amplifying effects we expected, trait variation increased with soil nutrient availability at intermediate diversity, but decreased at low and high diversity. 4. Our findings quantify the relevance of intra-individual level for leaf trait variation, and expose a complex interaction between its drivers. In particular, interactive effects of soil nutrient availability and local species diversity on trait variation suggest responses ranging from alleviating competition to enhancing complementarity. Taken together, our work highlights the importance of integrating an intra-individual perspective to understand trait-based mechanisms in biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relationships.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

High within-tree leaf trait variation and its response to species diversity and soil nutrients

Davrinche

Bittner

Bruelheide

et al. 2023

Preprint

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“…Litter decomposability measurements allowed us to isolate the litter effect on decomposition from decomposer and environmental effects (García‐Palacios et al 2013, Zhang et al 2018, Lin et al 2021). Consistent with our expectations, we observed a positive effect of litter decomposability on microbial decomposition.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tree diversity effects on litter decomposition are mediated by litterfall and microbial processes

Beugnon

Eisenhauer

Bruelheide

et al. 2023

Oikos

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Forest ecosystems are critical for their carbon sequestration potential. Increasing tree diversity has been shown to enhance both forest productivity and litter decomposition. Litter diversity increases litter decomposability by increasing the diversity of substrates offered to decomposers. However, the relative importance of litter decomposability and decomposer community in mediating tree diversity effects on decomposition remains unknown. Moreover, tree diversity modulation of litterfall spatial distribution, and consequently litter decomposition, has rarely been tested. We studied tree diversity effects on leaf litter decomposition and its mediation by the amount of litterfall, litter species richness and decomposability, and soil microorganisms in a large‐scale tree diversity experiment in subtropical China. Furthermore, we examined how litter functional identity and diversity affect leaf litter decomposability. Finally, we tested how leaf functional traits, tree biomass, and forest spatial structure drive the litterfall spatial distribution. We found evidence that tree species richness increased litter decomposition by increasing litter species richness and the amount of litterfall. We showed that soil microorganisms in this subtropical forest perform 84–87% of litter decomposition. Moreover, changes in the amount of litterfall and microbial decomposition explained 19–37% of the decomposition variance. Additionally, up to 20% of the microbial decomposition variance was explained by litter decomposability, while litter decomposability itself was determined by litter functional identity, diversity, and species richness. Tree species richness increased litter species richness and the amount of litterfall (+200% from monoculture to eight‐species neighborhood). We further demonstrated that the amount of species‐specific litterfall increased with increasing tree proximity and biomass, and was modulated by leaf functional traits. These litterfall drivers increased the spatial heterogeneity of litter distribution, and thus litter decomposition. We highlighted multiple biomass‐ and diversity‐mediated effects of tree diversity on ecosystem properties driving forest nutrient cycling. We conclude that considering spatial variability in biotic properties will improve our mechanistic understanding of ecosystem functioning.

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“…In this study, we investigated the response of litterfall production, forest floor decay rate and forest floor mass to increasing tree species richness in a subtropical tree diversity experiment. We hypothesized that: (H1) tree species richness increases forest floor mass through increasing litterfall productionthis hypothesis is based on the current evidence from the positive tree diversityforest productivity relationships (Huang et al, 2018a;Urgoiti et al, 2022) and litterfall production is a useful indicator of forest productivity; (H2) tree species richness decreases forest floor mass via its positive effect on forest floor decay ratethis hypothesis is based on current evidence that increasing litter species richness increases resource complementarity and improves microenvironmental conditions for decomposers, thereby accelerating forest floor decay rates (Joly et al, 2017;Lin et al, 2021), and that consequently, (H3) tree species richness has no significant impact on forest floor mass, as the aforementioned effects (litterfall production increases and forest floor decay accelerates with tree species richness) cancel each other out.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Functional identity drives tree species richness‐induced increases in litterfall production and forest floor mass in young tree communities

Wan,

Joly,

Jia

et al. 2023

New Phytologist

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Summary Forest floor accumulation is a key process that influences ecosystem carbon cycling. Despite evidence suggesting that tree diversity and soil carbon are positively correlated, most soil carbon studies typically omit the response of the forest floor carbon to tree diversity loss. Here, we evaluated how tree species richness affects forest floor mass and how this effect is mediated by litterfall production and forest floor decay rate in a tree diversity experiment in a subtropical forest. We observed that greater tree species richness leads to higher forest floor accumulation at the soil surface through increasing litterfall production – positively linked to functional trait identity (i.e. community‐weighted mean functional trait) rather than functional diversity – and unchanged forest floor decay. Interestingly, structural equation modelling revealed that this lack of overall significant tree species richness effect on forest floor decay rate was due to two indirect and opposite effects cancelling each other out. Indeed, tree species richness increased forest floor decay rate through increasing litterfall production while decreasing forest floor decay rate by increasing litter species richness. Our reports of greater organic matter accumulation in the forest floor in species‐rich forests suggest that tree diversity may have long‐term and important effect on ecosystem carbon cycling and services.

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What drives leaf litter decomposition and the decomposer community in subtropical forests – The richness of the above-ground tree community or that of the leaf litter?

Cited by 30 publications

References 82 publications

High within-tree leaf trait variation and its response to species diversity and soil nutrients

High within-tree leaf trait variation and its response to species diversity and soil nutrients

Tree diversity effects on litter decomposition are mediated by litterfall and microbial processes

Functional identity drives tree species richness‐induced increases in litterfall production and forest floor mass in young tree communities

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