Climatic controls on leaf litter decomposition across European forests and grasslands revealed by reciprocal litter transplantation experiments

Portillo-Estrada, Miguel; Pihlatie, Mari; Korhonen, Janne F.J.; Levula, Janne; Frumau, Arnoud K.F.; Ibrom, Andreas; Lembrechts, Jonas J.; Morillas, Lourdes; Horvath, Laszlo; Jones, Stephanie K.; Niinemets, Ulo. 2016 Climatic controls on leaf litter decomposition across European forests and grasslands revealed by reciprocal litter transplantation experiments. Biogeosciences, 13 (5). 1621-1633. https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-1621-2016

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Abstract/Summary

Carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) cycling under future climate change is associated with large uncertainties in litter decomposition and the turnover of soil C and N. In addition, future conditions (especially altered precipitation regimes and warming) are expected to result in changes in vegetation composition, and accordingly in litter species and chemical composition, but it is unclear how such changes could potentially alter litter decomposition. Litter transplantation experiments were carried out across six European sites (four forests and two grasslands) spanning a large geographical and climatic gradient (5.6–11.4 °C in annual temperature 511–878 mm in precipitation) to gain insight into the climatic controls on litter decomposition as well as the effect of litter origin and species. The decomposition k rates were overall higher in warmer and wetter sites than in colder and drier sites, and positively correlated with the litter total specific leaf area. Also, litter N content increased as less litter mass remained and decay went further. Surprisingly, this study demonstrates that climatic controls on litter decomposition are quantitatively more important than species or site of origin. Cumulative climatic variables, precipitation, soil water content and air temperature (ignoring days with air temperatures below zero degrees Celsius), were appropriate to predict the litter remaining mass during decomposition (Mr). Mr and cumulative air temperature were found to be the best predictors for litter carbon and nitrogen remaining during the decomposition. Using mean annual air temperature, precipitation, soil water content and litter total specific leaf area as parameters we were able to predict the annual decomposition rate (k) accurately.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-1621-2016
UKCEH and CEH Sections/Science Areas:	Dise
ISSN:	1726-4170
Additional Information. Not used in RCUK Gateway to Research.:	Open Access paper - full text available via Official URL link.
NORA Subject Terms:	Ecology and Environment Agriculture and Soil Science
Date made live:	11 May 2016 13:00 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/513610

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