Frontiers in Forests and Global Change (Jul 2021)

Effects of Climate and Atmospheric Nitrogen Deposition on Early to Mid-Term Stage Litter Decomposition Across Biomes

  • TaeOh Kwon,
  • Hideaki Shibata,
  • Sebastian Kepfer-Rojas,
  • Inger K. Schmidt,
  • Klaus S. Larsen,
  • Claus Beier,
  • Björn Berg,
  • Kris Verheyen,
  • Jean-Francois Lamarque,
  • Frank Hagedorn,
  • Nico Eisenhauer,
  • Nico Eisenhauer,
  • Ika Djukic,
  • TeaComposition Network,
  • TaeOh Kwon,
  • Hideaki Shibata,
  • Sebastian Kepfer-Rojas,
  • Inger Kappel Schmidt,
  • Klaus Steenberg Larsen,
  • Claus Beier,
  • Björn Berg,
  • Kris Verheyen,
  • Jean Francois Lamarque,
  • Frank Hagedorn,
  • Nico Eisenhauer,
  • Ika Djukic,
  • Adriano Caliman,
  • Alain Paquette,
  • Alba Gutiérrez-Girón,
  • Alessandro Petraglia,
  • Algirdas Augustaitis,
  • Amélie Saillard,
  • Ana Carolina Ruiz-Fernández,
  • Ana I. Sousa,
  • Ana I. Lillebø,
  • Anderson da Rocha Gripp,
  • Andrea Lamprecht,
  • Andreas Bohner,
  • André-Jean Francez,
  • Andrey Malyshev,
  • Andrijana Andrić,
  • Angela Stanisci,
  • Anita Zolles,
  • Anna Avila,
  • Anna-Maria Virkkala,
  • Anne Probst,
  • Annie Ouin,
  • Anzar A. Khuroo,
  • Arne Verstraeten,
  • Artur Stefanski,
  • Aurora Gaxiola,
  • Bart Muys,
  • Beatriz Gozalo,
  • Bernd Ahrends,
  • Bo Yang,
  • Brigitta Erschbamer,
  • Carmen Eugenia Rodríguez Ortíz,
  • Casper T. Christiansen,
  • Céline Meredieu,
  • Cendrine Mony,
  • Charles Nock,
  • Chiao-Ping Wang,
  • Christel Baum,
  • Christian Rixen,
  • Christine Delire,
  • Christophe Piscart,
  • Christopher Andrews,
  • Corinna Rebmann,
  • Cristina Branquinho,
  • Dick Jan,
  • Dirk Wundram,
  • Dušanka Vujanović,
  • E. Carol Adair,
  • Eduardo Ordóñez-Regil,
  • Edward R. Crawford,
  • Elena F. Tropina,
  • Elisabeth Hornung,
  • Elli Groner,
  • Eric Lucot,
  • Esperança Gacia,
  • Esther Lévesque,
  • Evanilde Benedito,
  • Evgeny A. Davydov,
  • Fábio Padilha Bolzan,
  • Fernando T. Maestre,
  • Florence Maunoury-Danger,
  • Florian Kitz,
  • Florian Hofhansl,
  • Flurin Sutter,
  • Francisco de Almeida Lobo,
  • Franco Leadro Souza,
  • Franz Zehetner,
  • Fulgence Kouamé Koffi,
  • Georg Wohlfahrt,
  • Giacomo Certini,
  • Gisele Daiane Pinha,
  • Grizelle González,
  • Guylaine Canut,
  • Harald Pauli,
  • Héctor A. Bahamonde,
  • Heike Feldhaar,
  • Heinke Jäger,
  • Helena Cristina Serrano,
  • Hélène Verheyden,
  • Helge Bruelheide,
  • Henning Meesenburg,
  • Hermann Jungkunst,
  • Hervé Jactel,
  • Hiroko Kurokawa,
  • Ian Yesilonis,
  • Inara Melece,
  • Inge van Halder,
  • Inmaculada García Quirós,
  • István Fekete,
  • Ivika Ostonen,
  • Jana Borovská,
  • Javier Roales,
  • Jawad Hasan Shoqeir,
  • Jean-Christophe Lata,
  • Jean-Luc Probst,
  • Jeyanny Vijayanathan,
  • Jiri Dolezal,
  • Joan-Albert Sanchez-Cabeza,
  • Joël Merlet,
  • John Loehr,
  • Jonathan von Oppen,
  • Jörg Löffler,
  • José Luis Benito Alonso,
  • José-Gilberto Cardoso-Mohedano,
  • Josep Peñuelas,
  • Joseph C. Morina,
  • Juan Darío Quinde,
  • Juan J. Jiménez,
  • Juha M. Alatalo,
  • Julia Seeber,
  • Julia Kemppinen,
  • Jutta Stadler,
  • Kaie Kriiska,
  • Karel Van den Meersche,
  • Karibu Fukuzawa,
  • Katalin Szlavecz,
  • Katalin Juhos,
  • Katarína Gerhátová,
  • Kate Lajtha,
  • Katie Jennings,
  • Katja Tielbörger,
  • Kazuhiko Hoshizaki,
  • Ken Green,
  • Klaus Steinbauer,
  • Laryssa Pazianoto,
  • Laura Dienstbach,
  • Laura Yahdjian,
  • Laura J. Williams,
  • Laurel Brigham,
  • Lee Hanna,
  • Liesbeth van den Brink,
  • Lindsey Rustad,
  • Lourdes Morillas,
  • Luciana Silva Carneiro,
  • Luciano Di Martino,
  • Luis Villar,
  • Luísa Alícida Fernandes Tavares,
  • Madison Morley,
  • Manuela Winkler,
  • Marc Lebouvier,
  • Marcello Tomaselli,
  • Marcus Schaub,
  • Maria Glushkova,
  • Maria Guadalupe Almazan Torres,
  • Marie-Anne de Graaff,
  • Marie-Noëlle Pons,
  • Marijn Bauters,
  • Marina Mazón,
  • Mark Frenzel,
  • Markus Wagner,
  • Markus Didion,
  • Maroof Hamid,
  • Marta Lopes,
  • Martha Apple,
  • Martin Weih,
  • Matej Mojses,
  • Matteo Gualmini,
  • Matthew Vadeboncoeur,
  • Michael Bierbaumer,
  • Michael Danger,
  • Michael Scherer-Lorenzen,
  • Michal Růžek,
  • Michel Isabellon,
  • Michele Di Musciano,
  • Michele Carbognani,
  • Miglena Zhiyanski,
  • Mihai Puşcaş,
  • Milan Barna,
  • Mioko Ataka,
  • Miska Luoto,
  • Mohammed H. Alsafaran,
  • Nadia Barsoum,
  • Naoko Tokuchi,
  • Nathalie Korboulewsky,
  • Nicolas Lecomte,
  • Nina Filippova,
  • Norbert Hölzel,
  • Olga Ferlian,
  • Oscar Romero,
  • Osvaldo Pinto-Jr,
  • Pablo Peri,
  • Pavel Dan Turtureanu,
  • Peter Haase,
  • Peter Macreadie,
  • Peter B. Reich,
  • Petr Petřík,
  • Philippe Choler,
  • Pierre Marmonier,
  • Quentin Ponette,
  • Rafael Dettogni Guariento,
  • Rafaella Canessa,
  • Ralf Kiese,
  • Rebecca Hewitt,
  • Robert Weigel,
  • Róbert Kanka,
  • Roberto Cazzolla Gatti,
  • Rodrigo Lemes Martins,
  • Romà Ogaya,
  • Romain Georges,
  • Rosario G. Gavilán,
  • Sally Wittlinger,
  • Sara Puijalon,
  • Satoshi Suzuki,
  • Schädler Martin,
  • Schmidt Anja,
  • Sébastien Gogo,
  • Silvio Schueler,
  • Simon Drollinger,
  • Simone Mereu,
  • Sonja Wipf,
  • Stacey Trevathan-Tackett,
  • Stefan Stoll,
  • Stefan Löfgren,
  • Stefan Trogisch,
  • Steffen Seitz,
  • Stephan Glatzel,
  • Susanna Venn,
  • Sylvie Dousset,
  • Taiki Mori,
  • Takanori Sato,
  • Takuo Hishi,
  • Tatsuro Nakaji,
  • Theurillat Jean-Paul,
  • Thierry Camboulive,
  • Thomas Spiegelberger,
  • Thomas Scholten,
  • Thomas J. Mozdzer,
  • Till Kleinebecker,
  • Tomáš Rusňák,
  • Tshililo Ramaswiela,
  • Tsutom Hiura,
  • Tsutomu Enoki,
  • Tudor-Mihai Ursu,
  • Umberto Morra di Cella,
  • Ute Hamer,
  • Valentin Klaus,
  • Valter Di Cecco,
  • Vanessa Rego,
  • Veronika Fontana,
  • Veronika Piscová,
  • Vincent Bretagnolle,
  • Vincent Maire,
  • Vinicius Farjalla,
  • Vittoz Pascal,
  • Wenjun Zhou,
  • Wentao Luo,
  • William Parker,
  • Yasuhiro Utsumi,
  • Yuji Kominami,
  • Zsolt Kotroczó,
  • Zsolt Tóth

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/ffgc.2021.678480
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 4

Abstract

Read online

Litter decomposition is a key process for carbon and nutrient cycling in terrestrial ecosystems and is mainly controlled by environmental conditions, substrate quantity and quality as well as microbial community abundance and composition. In particular, the effects of climate and atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition on litter decomposition and its temporal dynamics are of significant importance, since their effects might change over the course of the decomposition process. Within the TeaComposition initiative, we incubated Green and Rooibos teas at 524 sites across nine biomes. We assessed how macroclimate and atmospheric inorganic N deposition under current and predicted scenarios (RCP 2.6, RCP 8.5) might affect litter mass loss measured after 3 and 12 months. Our study shows that the early to mid-term mass loss at the global scale was affected predominantly by litter quality (explaining 73% and 62% of the total variance after 3 and 12 months, respectively) followed by climate and N deposition. The effects of climate were not litter-specific and became increasingly significant as decomposition progressed, with MAP explaining 2% and MAT 4% of the variation after 12 months of incubation. The effect of N deposition was litter-specific, and significant only for 12-month decomposition of Rooibos tea at the global scale. However, in the temperate biome where atmospheric N deposition rates are relatively high, the 12-month mass loss of Green and Rooibos teas decreased significantly with increasing N deposition, explaining 9.5% and 1.1% of the variance, respectively. The expected changes in macroclimate and N deposition at the global scale by the end of this century are estimated to increase the 12-month mass loss of easily decomposable litter by 1.1–3.5% and of the more stable substrates by 3.8–10.6%, relative to current mass loss. In contrast, expected changes in atmospheric N deposition will decrease the mid-term mass loss of high-quality litter by 1.4–2.2% and that of low-quality litter by 0.9–1.5% in the temperate biome. Our results suggest that projected increases in N deposition may have the capacity to dampen the climate-driven increases in litter decomposition depending on the biome and decomposition stage of substrate.

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