What controls forest litter decomposition? A coordinated distributed teabag experiment across ten mountains

Litter decomposition in mountainous forest ecosystems is an essential process that affects carbon and nutrient cycling. However, the contribution of litter decomposition to terrestrial ecosystems is difficult to estimate accurately because of the limited comparability of different studies and limited data on local microclimatic and non‐climatic factors. Here, we designed a coordinated experiment within subtropical and tropical forests across ten mountains to evaluate variation in litter decomposition rates and stabilization. We tested whether elevations, soil microclimate, soil physiochemistry, tree species diversity, and microhabitat affect decomposition rates and stabilization by using the Tea bag index as a standardized protocol. We found that the associations of decomposition rates and stabilization with elevation and each environmental factor varied between mountains. Elevation significantly affected decomposition rates and stabilization in the western mountains, where soil microclimate also played a dominant role due to relatively cold environments. Across all mountains, decomposition rates decreased while stabilization increased with increasing elevation. In terms of microclimate, decomposition rates increased with increasing soil temperature and temperature variation during the growing season, whereas stabilization decreased with increasing soil temperature and moisture variation. In terms of non‐climatic factors, decomposition rates increased with increasing tree species diversity, whereas stabilization decreased with soil pH and slope. Our findings enhance the general understanding of how different factors control forest litter decomposition, highlighting the dominant role of soil microclimate in controlling carbon and nutrient cycling in cold environments and high elevations.

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Publication Details

Journal
Ecography
Published
2024-09-05
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1111/ecog.07339
Citations
9
Primary Topic
Ecology and Conservation Studies
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
5.40

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article

What controls forest litter decomposition? A coordinated distributed teabag experiment across ten mountains

Meixiang Gao, Yi Ding, Kun Song, Ya‐Huang Luo et al.
9 citations
Ecography
Ecology and Conservation Studies
5.40
article

What controls forest litter decomposition? A coordinated distributed teabag experiment across ten mountains

Meixiang Gao, Yi Ding, Kun Song, Ya‐Huang Luo, Zhongsheng He, Zhaochen Zhang, Xiaolei Huang, Zhongping Tian, Xianjin He, Liang‐Liang Ma, Shiyu Ma, Xijin Zhang, Shengbin Chen, Yongchuan Yang, Hongwei Zhang, Jie Liu, Lan Liu, Jian Zhang, Yansong Zhang, Shaopeng Li, Bo Chen, Gang Hu, Bingwei Lv, Xiaorong Lu, Yani Meng
article en
9 citations

Abstract

Litter decomposition in mountainous forest ecosystems is an essential process that affects carbon and nutrient cycling. However, the contribution of litter decomposition to terrestrial ecosystems is difficult to estimate accurately because of the limited comparability of different studies and limited data on local microclimatic and non‐climatic factors. Here, we designed a coordinated experiment within subtropical and tropical forests across ten mountains to evaluate variation in litter decomposition rates and stabilization. We tested whether elevations, soil microclimate, soil physiochemistry, tree species diversity, and microhabitat affect decomposition rates and stabilization by using the Tea bag index as a standardized protocol. We found that the associations of decomposition rates and stabilization with elevation and each environmental factor varied between mountains. Elevation significantly affected decomposition rates and stabilization in the western mountains, where soil microclimate also played a dominant role due to relatively cold environments. Across all mountains, decomposition rates decreased while stabilization increased with increasing elevation. In terms of microclimate, decomposition rates increased with increasing soil temperature and temperature variation during the growing season, whereas stabilization decreased with increasing soil temperature and moisture variation. In terms of non‐climatic factors, decomposition rates increased with increasing tree species diversity, whereas stabilization decreased with soil pH and slope. Our findings enhance the general understanding of how different factors control forest litter decomposition, highlighting the dominant role of soil microclimate in controlling carbon and nutrient cycling in cold environments and high elevations.

Ecography
Ningbo University (CN), Kunming Institute of Botany (CN), Sun Yat-sen University (CN), Chongqing University (CN), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN), Hainan University (CN), Ministry of Natural Resources (CN), Chengdu University of Technology (CN), Chinese Academy of Forestry (CN), Nanning Normal University (CN), Institute of Forest Ecology, Environment and Protection (CN), Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University (CN), East China Normal University (CN)
National Natural Science Foundation of China, Shanghai Municipal Education Commission
Openalex Percentile: Top 5%
Ecology and Conservation Studies
5.40
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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