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The importance of biotic factors in predicting global change effects on decomposition of temperate forest leaf litter

  • Global change ecology - Original Paper
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Abstract

Increasing atmospheric CO2 and temperature are predicted to alter litter decomposition via changes in litter chemistry and environmental conditions. The extent to which these predictions are influenced by biotic factors such as litter species composition or decomposer activity, and in particular how these different factors interact, is not well understood. In a 5-week laboratory experiment we compared the decomposition of leaf litter from four temperate tree species (Fagus sylvatica, Quercus petraea, Carpinus betulus and Tilia platyphyllos) in response to four interacting factors: elevated CO2-induced changes in litter quality, a 3°C warmer environment during decomposition, changes in litter species composition, and presence/absence of a litter-feeding millipede (Glomeris marginata). Elevated CO2 and temperature had much weaker effects on decomposition than litter species composition and the presence of Glomeris. Mass loss of elevated CO2-grown leaf litter was reduced in Fagus and increased in Fagus/Tilia mixtures, but was not affected in any other leaf litter treatment. Warming increased litter mass loss in Carpinus and Tilia, but not in the other two litter species and in none of the mixtures. The CO2- and temperature-related differences in decomposition disappeared completely when Glomeris was present. Overall, fauna activity stimulated litter mass loss, but to different degrees depending on litter species composition, with a particularly strong effect on Fagus/Tilia mixtures (+58%). Higher fauna-driven mass loss was not followed by higher C mineralization over the relatively short experimental period. Apart from a strong interaction between litter species composition and fauna, the tested factors had little or no interactive effects on decomposition. We conclude that if global change were to result in substantial shifts in plant community composition and macrofauna abundance in forest ecosystems, these interacting biotic factors could have greater impacts on decomposition and biogeochemical cycles than rising atmospheric CO2 concentration and temperature.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Benjamin Jackson for his contributions to the set-up of the experiment, animal collections in the field, laboratory support and discussions, Bruno Buatois, Laurette Sonié, Raphaëlle Leclerc, Sandrine Bioulac, Sylvain Coq and Jérémy Devaux for laboratory assistance, Christian Collin and David Delguedre for technical support, Erwin Amstutz, Markus Schindler and Mark Gessner for their help in litter collections, Christian Körner for his support of work at the Swiss Canopy Crane (SCC) research site in Basel, and anonymous reviewers for thoughtful comments that improved previous versions of our manuscript. This research was possible thanks to the support of the SCC research site and the CO2 enrichment facility by the Swiss National Science Foundation (grants 3100-0597769.99 and 3100-067775.02), the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (BUWAL) and the University of Basel. Funding was provided by the ESF EUROCORES programme EuroDIVERSITY to the collaborative research project BioCycle. BioCycle is endorsed by DIVERSITAS as contributing towards their current scientific research priorities in biodiversity science.

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  1. Soraya Rouifed

    Present address: Laboratoire d’Ecologie des Hydrosystèmes Fluviaux, UMR CNRS 5023, Université de Lyon 1, 69622, Villeurbanne, France

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive (CEFE), CNRS, 1919 route de Mende, 34293, Montpellier, France

    Soraya Rouifed, I. Tanya Handa, Jean-François David & Stephan Hättenschwiler

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  1. Soraya Rouifed
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Correspondence to I. Tanya Handa.

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Communicated by Amy Austin.

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Rouifed, S., Handa, I.T., David, JF. et al. The importance of biotic factors in predicting global change effects on decomposition of temperate forest leaf litter. Oecologia 163, 247–256 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-009-1528-1

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