How detritivores, plant traits and time modulate coupling of leaf versus woody litter decomposition rates across species

Chao Guo, Bin Tuo, Hang Ci, Bi Le Sai, Yu Zhang, En Rong Yan*, Johannes H.C. Cornelissen

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

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Abstract

Plant functional traits are increasingly used to understand ecological relationships and (changing) ecosystem functions. For understanding ecosystem-level biogeochemistry, we need to understand how (much) traits co-vary between different plant organs across species and its implications for litter decomposition. However, we do not know how the degree of synchronous variation in decomposition rates between organs across species could be influenced by different keystone invertebrates decomposing different senesced plant organs, especially in warm-climate forests. Here we asked whether interspecific patterns in wood and leaf decomposition rates and in the spectra of resource economics traits underpinning them, co-vary across woody species; and how (much) the keystone invertebrate decomposers of the litter of these organs enhance or lower such co-variation of decomposition rates through time. We addressed these questions through an 18-month ‘common-garden’ decomposition experiment using leaf, twig and branch litter of 41 woody species in two distant subtropical forest sites in east China. We quantified the effects of leaf, twig and branch functional traits and their respective key invertebrates (moth larvae, termites) on the decomposition rates of those organs. Interspecific variation in wood traits was partly decoupled from that in leaf traits across species, while strong coupling was found between twigs and branches. The co-variation between leaf and woody organ decomposition rates was altered dynamically through the shifting activities of the key decomposers, which created nonlinear relationships of invertebrate litter consumption as a function of species rankings along the resource economic trait spectra of leaves and branches. The deviations from coupling of decomposition rates between organs were likely caused by combinations of three mechanisms: (1) (de-)coupling between organs of other traits, not commonly considered in resource economics spectra (e.g. resins) (2) leaf and wood decomposers having specific diet requirements and (3) temporal patterns of the decomposers' activity. Synthesis. Our study highlights the importance of considering the different ways by which invertebrate detritivores drive decomposition processes through time. Under the ongoing biodiversity decline, future research would benefit from a better understanding of the role of the dynamic interactions between detritivore activities and plant functional traits on the carbon turnover in ecosystems.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)227-239
Number of pages13
JournalJournal of Ecology
Volume111
Issue number1
Early online date9 Nov 2022
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jan 2023

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We thank Minshan Xu, Liting Zheng, Xiangyu Liu, Umar Aftab Abbasi, Tian Su, Wujian Xiong, Qiming Liang, Xiaotong Zhu, Liang Li, Dong He and Liangyan Wang for their assistance in the field and laboratory. This study made use of an existing experiment platform named ‘ChinaFunLog’; therefore, no further permission was required to conduct fieldwork. This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China to E.R.Y. (grant no. 32030068) and the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (grant no. 2021M691029 and 2021TQ0110) and the Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 32101275) to C.G.

Funding Information:
We thank Minshan Xu, Liting Zheng, Xiangyu Liu, Umar Aftab Abbasi, Tian Su, Wujian Xiong, Qiming Liang, Xiaotong Zhu, Liang Li, Dong He and Liangyan Wang for their assistance in the field and laboratory. This study made use of an existing experiment platform named ‘ChinaFunLog’; therefore, no further permission was required to conduct fieldwork. This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China to E.R.Y. (grant no. 32030068) and the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (grant no. 2021M691029 and 2021TQ0110) and the Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 32101275) to C.G.

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

Funding

We thank Minshan Xu, Liting Zheng, Xiangyu Liu, Umar Aftab Abbasi, Tian Su, Wujian Xiong, Qiming Liang, Xiaotong Zhu, Liang Li, Dong He and Liangyan Wang for their assistance in the field and laboratory. This study made use of an existing experiment platform named ‘ChinaFunLog’; therefore, no further permission was required to conduct fieldwork. This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China to E.R.Y. (grant no. 32030068) and the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (grant no. 2021M691029 and 2021TQ0110) and the Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 32101275) to C.G. We thank Minshan Xu, Liting Zheng, Xiangyu Liu, Umar Aftab Abbasi, Tian Su, Wujian Xiong, Qiming Liang, Xiaotong Zhu, Liang Li, Dong He and Liangyan Wang for their assistance in the field and laboratory. This study made use of an existing experiment platform named ‘ChinaFunLog’; therefore, no further permission was required to conduct fieldwork. This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China to E.R.Y. (grant no. 32030068) and the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (grant no. 2021M691029 and 2021TQ0110) and the Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 32101275) to C.G.

Keywords

  • coordination
  • decomposition trajectory
  • evergreen broadleaved forest
  • leaf economic spectrum
  • moth larvae
  • plant organs
  • termites
  • wood economics spectrum

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