Five-year study on the effects of warming and plant litter quality on litter decomposition rate in a Tibetan alpine grassland

2021 ◽  
Vol 750 ◽  
pp. 142306
Author(s):  
Jiangtao Hong ◽  
Xuyang Lu ◽  
Xingxing Ma ◽  
Xiaodan Wang
2012 ◽  
Vol 518-523 ◽  
pp. 1913-1917
Author(s):  
Fang Qin Guo ◽  
Wei Chen

The effects of N deposition induced by environmental pollution on litter decomposition rate in Shenyang city are analyzed by the reciprocal transplant experiment. By contrasting environments and intraspecific variations in Cortex Phellodendri Chinensis leaf litter quality on mass loss rates to investigate the effects of N deposition on mass loss rates in urban and suburb. The results showed that N deposition in urban significantly affected litter decomposition rate by affecting litter quality and environmental conditions. There was a faster decomposition rate when the environmental conditions or litter quality was affected by N deposition.


Ecosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fan Zhang ◽  
Yuhao Feng ◽  
Shanshan Song ◽  
Qiong Cai ◽  
Chengjun Ji ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Israel Oliveira Ramalho ◽  
Claudia de Paula Rezende ◽  
José Marques Pereira ◽  
Robert de Oliveira Macedo ◽  
Camila Almeida dos Santos ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT: The objectives of this study were to determine the rates of plant litter deposition and decomposition in Marandu pastures (Urochloa brizantha cv. Marandu) under a) three forms of nitrogen (N) supply, b) at different stages of rotational grazing and c) to compare the single-exponential decay constant (‘k’) derived from litterbags with values derived from estimates of deposited and existing litter (DEL technique). The three N supply treatments were: without or with N fertilization (zero or 150 kg N ha-1 yr-1) or with the legume Desmodium ovalifolium. There were no significant differences (p<0.05) between existing litter and rates of litter deposition and decomposition between the three N supply treatments. The litter decomposition rate was estimated using the DEL technique for the 7-day grazing periods and two subsequent 14-day periods in each 35-day grazing cycle. The litter decomposition rate was (P<0.05) higher for the second rest period (days 21 to 35) at 0.089 g g-1 day-1, than for the grazing period (0.038 g g-1 day-1) and for the first rest period (0.040 g g-1 day-1). The mean half-life of the litter was 12 days using the DEL technique while the estimate from the litterbags was 136 days. Results showed that estimates provided by litterbags severely underestimate the decomposition in relation to the DEL technique and predict a long-term accumulation of litter which is not observed.


Forests ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 338 ◽  
Author(s):  
Songze Wan ◽  
Zhanfeng Liu ◽  
Yuanqi Chen ◽  
Jie Zhao ◽  
Qin Ying ◽  
...  

Soil microorganisms play key roles in ecosystems and respond quickly to environmental changes. Liming and/or understory removal are important forest management practices and have been widely applied to planted forests in humid subtropical and tropical regions of the world. However, few studies have explored the impacts of lime application, understory removal, and their interactive effects on soil microbial communities. We conducted a lime application experiment combined with understory removal in a subtropical Eucalyptus L’Hér. plantation. Responses of soil microbial communities (indicated by phospholipid fatty acids, PLFAs), soil physico-chemical properties, and litter decomposition rate to lime and/or understory removal were measured. Lime application significantly decreased both fungal and bacterial PLFAs, causing declines in total PLFAs. Understory removal reduced the fungal PLFAs but had no effect on the bacterial PLFAs, leading to decreases in the total PLFAs and in the ratio of fungal to bacterial PLFAs. No interaction between lime application and understory removal on soil microbial community compositions was observed. Changes in soil microbial communities caused by lime application were mainly attributed to increases in soil pH and NO3–-N contents, while changes caused by understory removal were mainly due to the indirect effects on soil microclimate and the decreased soil dissolved carbon contents. Furthermore, both lime application and understory removal significantly reduced the litter decomposition rates, which indicates the lime application and understory removal may impact the microbe-mediated soil ecological process. Our results suggest that lime application may not be suitable for the management of subtropical Eucalyptus plantations. Likewise, understory vegetation helps to maintain soil microbial communities and litter decomposition rate; it should not be removed from Eucalyptus plantations.


1998 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
M Francesca Cotrufo ◽  
Björn Berg ◽  
Werner Kratz

There is evidence that N concentration in hardwood leaf litter is reduced when plants are raised in an elevated CO2 atmosphere. Reductions in the N concentration of leaf litter have been found for tree species raised under elevated CO2, with reduction in N concentration ranging from ca. 50% for sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa) to 19% for sycamore (Acer platanoides). However, the effects of elevated CO2 on the chemical composition of litter has been investigated only for a limited number of species. There is also little information on the effects of increased CO2 on the quality of root tissues. If we consider, for example, two important European forest ecosystem types, the dominant species investigated for chemical changes are just a few. Thus, there are whole terrestrial ecosystems in which not a single species has been investigated, meaning that the observed effects of a raised CO2 level on plant litter actually has a large error source. Few reports present data on the effects of elevated CO2 on litter nutrients other than N, which limits our ability to predict the effects of elevated CO2 on litter quality and thus on its decomposability. In litter decomposition three separate steps are seen: (i) the initial stages, (ii) the later stages, and (iii) the final stages. The concept of "substrate quality," translated into chemical composition, will thus change between early stages of decomposition and later ones, with a balanced proportion of nutrients (e.g., N, P, S) being required in the early decomposition phase. In the later stages decomposition rates are ruled by lignin degradation and that process is regulated by the availability of certain nutrients (e.g., N, Mn), which act as signals to the lignin-degrading soil microflora. In the final stages the decomposition comes to a stop or may reach an extremely low decomposition rate, so low that asymptotic decomposition values may be estimated and negatively related to N concentrations. Studies on the effects of changes in chemical composition on the decomposability of litter have mainly been made during the early decomposition stages and they generally report decreased litter quality (e.g., increased C/N ratio), resulting in lower decomposition rates for litter raised under elevated CO2 as compared with control litter. No reports are found relating chemical changes induced by elevated CO2 to litter mass-loss rates in late stages. By most definitions, at these stages litter has turned into humus, and many studies demonstrated that a raising of the N level may suppress humus decomposition rate. It is thus reasonable to speculate that a decrease in N levels in humus would accelerate decomposition and allow it to proceed further. There are no experimental data on the long-term effect of elevated CO2 levels, and a decrease in the storage of humus and nutrients could be predicted, at least in temperate and boreal forest systems. Future works on the effects of elevated CO2 on litter quality need to include studies of a larger number of nutrients and chemical components, and to cover different stages of decomposition. Additionally, the response of plant litter quality to elevated CO2 needs to be investigated under field conditions and at the community level, where possible shifts in community composition (i.e., C3 versus C4 ; N2 fixers versus nonfixers) predicted under elevated CO2 are taken into account.Key words: climate change, substrate quality, carbon dioxide, plant litter, chemical composition, decomposition.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Slamet Santosa ◽  
Muhamad Ruslan Umar ◽  
Dody Priosambodo ◽  
Rizki Amalia Puji Santosa

Teak Tectona grandis Linn is still used as the main product in the form of wood, while other products, especially environmental services have not received much attention. This study analyzed biomass, carbon stocks and decomposition rate of leaf litter in teak plantations in city forest of Hasanuudin University, Makassar. The individual biomass of teak plants is calculated using the allometric equation, Y=0.11x ρ x D2.62. Carbon stocks were analyzed using a formulation, C=0.47xB. The leaf litter decomposition rate is expressed as the ratio of the remaining litter dry weight, with the formulation, X= (A-B)/A. The number of teak plants in 5 sample plots were 239 trees with an average stem diameter of 20.6cm and an average height of 9.02m. Total biomass in 5 sample plots was 51,712.61g. Carbon stock in 5 sample plots was 24,304.92g. Decomposition rate average of leaf litter of 24.4g during 60 days incubation. The existence of teak plantations is able to reduce CO2 in the atmosphere by as much as 89,199.06gCO2 and resulting in a decomposition rate of teak leaf litter 0.4g per day


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document