Carbon versus nitrogen release from root and leaf litter is modulated by litter position and plant functional type

Enkhmaa Erdenebileg, Congwen Wang, Wanying Yu, Xuehua Ye, Xu Pan, Zhenying Huang*, Guofang Liu, Johannes H.C. Cornelissen

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

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Abstract

Litters of leaves and roots of different qualities occur naturally above- and below-ground, respectively, where they decompose in contrasting abiotic and biotic environments. Therefore, ecosystem carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) dynamics can be strongly affected by the combination of litter position and quality. However, it is poorly understood how C versus N turnover of litters depend on the interplay among plant functional type (PFT), organs, traits and litter position. In a semi-arid inland dune, soil surface and buried leaf litters and buried fine roots of 25 species across three PFTs (herbs, legume shrubs and nonlegume shrubs) were incubated for 3, 6, 9, 12, 18 and 24 months to investigate litter decomposition and C and N dynamics. Morphological and chemical (nutrient and NMR carbon) traits of initial litters of leaves and fine roots were determined. The litter decomposition rates (k values) of surface leaves and buried fine roots did not differ, but buried fine roots and buried leaf litter decomposed faster than surface leaf litter. Ratios of k values of surface leaves to buried leaves decreased with leaf C:N ratio. Herbs and legume shrubs decomposed faster than nonlegume shrubs for buried fine roots, but not for leaves. At given C loss, buried fine roots had higher N loss than leaf litters; legume shrubs with relatively higher N or lower C:N ratio had higher N loss than nonlegume shrubs. Stronger positive relationships between C and N losses were shown in leaves and legume shrubs than in fine roots and nonlegume shrubs respectively. Synthesis. The generality of faster N release of legume litters at given C release highlights the importance of legumes in N cycling in semi-arid ecosystems where N is the limiting factor. The dynamics and coordination of C versus N release as a function of litter quality are modulated by litter position and PFT. These findings have important implications for the development of process-based models on C and N cycles in the context of on-going global change potentially altering the functional composition of plant communities and the relative quantities and qualities of above-ground versus below-ground litter.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)198-213
Number of pages16
JournalJournal of Ecology
Volume111
Issue number1
Early online date28 Oct 2022
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jan 2023

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We thank Hongmei Mao, Zhaoren Wang and Jianlin Zhang for their support during litter collection and litter experiment set‐up. We are particularly grateful to the Associate Editor Paul Kardol and three anonymous reviewers for their highly relevant comments for improving the quality of the manuscript. Research is funded by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2018YFE0182800) and the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDA23080302).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors. Journal of Ecology © 2022 British Ecological Society.

Funding

We thank Hongmei Mao, Zhaoren Wang and Jianlin Zhang for their support during litter collection and litter experiment set‐up. We are particularly grateful to the Associate Editor Paul Kardol and three anonymous reviewers for their highly relevant comments for improving the quality of the manuscript. Research is funded by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2018YFE0182800) and the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDA23080302).

FundersFunder number
Chinese Academy of SciencesXDA23080302
Chinese Academy of Sciences
National Key Research and Development Program of China2018YFE0182800
National Key Research and Development Program of China

    Keywords

    • dryland
    • leaf and fine root
    • legume
    • litter decomposition
    • litter position
    • litter quality
    • plant functional type
    • plant–soil (below-ground) interactions

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