Final published version
Licence: CC BY: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Land use not litter quality is a stronger driver of decomposition in hyperdiverse tropical forest. / Both, Sabine; Elias, Dafydd M.O.; Kritzler, Ully H. et al.
In: Ecology and Evolution, Vol. 7, No. 22, 01.11.2017, p. 9307-9318.Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Land use not litter quality is a stronger driver of decomposition in hyperdiverse tropical forest
AU - Both, Sabine
AU - Elias, Dafydd M.O.
AU - Kritzler, Ully H.
AU - Ostle, Nick J.
AU - Johnson, David
PY - 2017/11/1
Y1 - 2017/11/1
N2 - In hyperdiverse tropical forests, the key drivers of litter decomposition are poorly understood despite its crucial role in facilitating nutrient availability for plants and microbes. Selective logging is a pressing land use with potential for considerable impacts on plant–soil interactions, litter decomposition, and nutrient cycling. Here, in Borneo's tropical rainforests, we test the hypothesis that decomposition is driven by litter quality and that there is a significant “home-field advantage,” that is positive interaction between local litter quality and land use. We determined mass loss of leaf litter, collected from selectively logged and old-growth forest, in a fully factorial experimental design, using meshes that either allowed or precluded access by mesofauna. We measured leaf litter chemical composition before and after the experiment. Key soil chemical and biological properties and microclimatic conditions were measured as land-use descriptors. We found that despite substantial differences in litter quality, the main driver of decomposition was land-use type. Whilst inclusion of mesofauna accelerated decomposition, their effect was independent of land use and litter quality. Decomposition of all litters was slower in selectively logged forest than in old-growth forest. However, there was significantly greater loss of nutrients from litter, especially phosphorus, in selectively logged forest. The analyses of several covariates detected minor microclimatic differences between land-use types but no alterations in soil chemical properties or free-living microbial composition. These results demonstrate that selective logging can significantly reduce litter decomposition in tropical rainforest with no evidence of a home-field advantage. We show that loss of key limiting nutrients from litter (P & N) is greater in selectively logged forest. Overall, the findings hint at subtle differences in microclimate overriding litter quality that result in reduced decomposition rates in selectively logged forests and potentially affect biogeochemical nutrient cycling in the long term.
AB - In hyperdiverse tropical forests, the key drivers of litter decomposition are poorly understood despite its crucial role in facilitating nutrient availability for plants and microbes. Selective logging is a pressing land use with potential for considerable impacts on plant–soil interactions, litter decomposition, and nutrient cycling. Here, in Borneo's tropical rainforests, we test the hypothesis that decomposition is driven by litter quality and that there is a significant “home-field advantage,” that is positive interaction between local litter quality and land use. We determined mass loss of leaf litter, collected from selectively logged and old-growth forest, in a fully factorial experimental design, using meshes that either allowed or precluded access by mesofauna. We measured leaf litter chemical composition before and after the experiment. Key soil chemical and biological properties and microclimatic conditions were measured as land-use descriptors. We found that despite substantial differences in litter quality, the main driver of decomposition was land-use type. Whilst inclusion of mesofauna accelerated decomposition, their effect was independent of land use and litter quality. Decomposition of all litters was slower in selectively logged forest than in old-growth forest. However, there was significantly greater loss of nutrients from litter, especially phosphorus, in selectively logged forest. The analyses of several covariates detected minor microclimatic differences between land-use types but no alterations in soil chemical properties or free-living microbial composition. These results demonstrate that selective logging can significantly reduce litter decomposition in tropical rainforest with no evidence of a home-field advantage. We show that loss of key limiting nutrients from litter (P & N) is greater in selectively logged forest. Overall, the findings hint at subtle differences in microclimate overriding litter quality that result in reduced decomposition rates in selectively logged forests and potentially affect biogeochemical nutrient cycling in the long term.
KW - Borneo
KW - leaf litter chemistry
KW - litterbags
KW - old-growth forest
KW - phospholipid fatty acids
KW - Sabah
KW - selectively logged forest
U2 - 10.1002/ece3.3460
DO - 10.1002/ece3.3460
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85034647512
VL - 7
SP - 9307
EP - 9318
JO - Ecology and Evolution
JF - Ecology and Evolution
SN - 2045-7758
IS - 22
ER -