Liana litter decomposes faster than tree litter in a multispecies and multisite experiment

Mareike Roeder*, Gbadamassi G.O. Dossa, J. Hans C. Cornelissen, Xiaodong Yang, Akihiro Nakamura, Kyle W. Tomlinson

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

    Abstract

    Lianas account for a small fraction of forest biomass, but their contribution to leaf or litter biomass and thus to food webs can be substantial. Globally liana exhibit fast life-history traits. Thus, liana litter may decompose faster than tree litter, and could enhance the decomposition of tree litter (complementarity effect). The differences in decomposition may also vary with mesofauna access or across forest communities. The contribution of these factors to nutrient biogeochemical cycling is poorly understood. We examined the decomposition of litter of 20 liana and 20 tree species of three different tropical forest communities in southern China, over 1 year. (i) We incubated the litter in bags with coarse and fine mesh to distinguish mesofaunal and microfaunal effects. (ii) We used single-species litter bags to compare decomposition rates of lianas and trees, to test which functional traits best explained decomposition, and whether those traits differed between lianas and trees, and among forest types. (iv) We used mixed-species litter bags to test whether liana litter enhances decomposition in litter mixtures. (v) We evaluated how leaf litter nutrients decayed in relation to litter mass. Litter decayed faster in coarse-mesh than fine-mesh bags, but there was no interaction effect with forest type or growth form. Liana litter decayed faster than tree litter in single-species bags with mesofauna access and in mixed bags (liana-only mix, tree-only mix) without mesofauna. Lianas had higher nitrogen content and specific leaf area and lower leaf dry matter content (LDMC) and toughness than trees. Decomposition rate was significantly negatively related to LDMC. Litter of evergreen broadleaved forest decomposed slower than that of other forest types. Liana litter did not enhance the decomposition of tree litter in mixtures. Liana litter released calcium slightly faster than trees. Synthesis: Leaf litter decomposes faster for lianas than trees, despite high variability of traits and decomposition rates within each growth form and overlap between growth forms, and we found no evidence for the complementarity hypothesis. Our study sheds light on the potential role of lianas within brown food webs and their importance on terrestrial biogeochemistry.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)2433-2447
    Number of pages15
    JournalJournal of Ecology
    Volume110
    Issue number10
    Early online date5 Jul 2022
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Oct 2022

    Bibliographical note

    Funding Information:
    This research was supported by National Science Foundation China, Grant number Y6GJ151B01 to M.R. (‘The role of lianas in food webs’), 31850410488 to G.G.O.D. and 31770472 to A.N. In addition, G.G.O.D. was supported by the Yunnan provincial postdoctoral grant and young international staff Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) president international fellowship initiative (PIFI) grants # 2019FYB0001 and the Yunnan provincial government talents program. We are also grateful to all reviewers as well as Editors for their comments on earlier version of this manuscript.

    Publisher Copyright:
    © 2022 The Authors. Journal of Ecology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Ecological Society.

    Keywords

    • complementarity
    • leaf dry matter content
    • mesofauna
    • nutrients
    • specific leaf area
    • woody growth forms

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