Soil fauna effects on litter decomposition are better predicted by fauna communities within litterbags than by ambient soil fauna communities
Peng, Yan (Fujian Normal University. School of Geographical Sciences)
Vesterdal, Lars (University of Copenhagen. Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management)
Peñuelas, Josep (Centre de Recerca Ecològica i d'Aplicacions Forestals)
Peguero, Guille (Centre de Recerca Ecològica i d'Aplicacions Forestals)
Wu, Qiqian (Zhejiang A&F University. State Key Laboratory of Subtropical Silviculture)
Heděnec, Petr (University Malaysia Terengganu. Institute of Tropical Biodiversity and Sustainable Development)
Yue, Kai (Fujian Normal University. School of Geographical Sciences)
Wu, Fuzhong (Fujian Normal University. School of Geographical Sciences)

Date:	2023
Abstract:	Aims:soil fauna is one of the major drivers of plant litter decomposition. This study aims to assess how soil fauna density and diversity may affect litter decomposition. Also, we assessed whether faunal communities inside the litterbags that are used to control the access of faunal groups or communities in ambient soils are better for predicting their effects on litter decomposition, given that soil fauna frequently move into and out of such litterbags. - Methods: to answer this question, we synthesized 5336 observations extracted from 46 publications to assess the effects of soil fauna communities, their density and diversity on the rate of litter decomposition (k) and litter mass loss. - Results: results showed that (1) the presence of soil fauna significantly increased k by an average of 33. 0% and that the effects were mainly controlled by initial litter concentrations of phosphorus and magnesium, (2) the density and diversity of soil fauna in litterbags significantly affected k and/or mass loss, but ambient communities had limited effects, and (3) the effects of soil fauna in litterbags on k were most significant during the early stages of decomposition (0 - 30% mass loss). - Conclusions: our study clearly showed that litterbag communities were better for predicting the effects of soil fauna on litter decomposition, and that their effects were most significant during the early stages of decomposition. These results improve our ability to estimate the contribution of soil fauna in liter decomposition and the associated carbon and nutrient cycling.
Grants:	Agencia Estatal de Investigación PID2019-110521GB-I00 Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca 2017/SGR-1005
Rights:	Aquest material està protegit per drets d'autor i/o drets afins. Podeu utilitzar aquest material en funció del que permet la legislació de drets d'autor i drets afins d'aplicació al vostre cas. Per a d'altres usos heu d'obtenir permís del(s) titular(s) de drets.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió acceptada per publicar
Subject:	Decomposition rate ; Mass loss ; Soil fauna density ; Soil fauna diversity ; Decomposition stage ; Meta-analysis
Published in:	Plant and soil, Vol. 487 (June 2023) , p. 49-59, ISSN 1573-5036

DOI: 10.1007/s11104-023-05902-1

Postprint 26 p, 709.7 KB

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Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > CREAF (Centre de Recerca Ecològica i d'Aplicacions Forestals)
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles