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Landscape context mediates the relationship between plant functional traits and decomposition

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Abstract

Aims

It has been well demonstrated that several interacting endogenous and exogenous factors influence decomposition. However, teasing apart the direct and indirect effects of these factors to predict decomposition patterns in heterogenous landscapes remains a key challenge.

Methods

At 157 locations in a temperate forest, we measured decomposition of a standard substrate (filter paper) over two years, the landscape context in which decomposition took place, and the functional composition of the woody species that contributed leaf litter to the forest floor where litter bags were placed. We tested for direct and indirect effects of landscape context and direct effects of forest functional composition on decay using structural equation modelling.

Results

We found that landscape context had direct effects on decay and indirect effects on decay via its influence on the functional composition of the surrounding forest. Forest functional composition also had direct effects on decay, but these effects decreased or disappeared completely over time. Moreover, community weighted mean trait values were better predictors of decay than functional dispersion of leaf traits, and leaf nitrogen content and carbon content were better predictors of decay than leaf dry matter content or leaf toughness.

Conclusions

Our results highlight the importance of an integrative approach that examines the direct and indirect effects of multiple factors for understanding and predicting decomposition patterns across heterogenous landscapes.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Maranda Walton for assistance with data collection, the Tyson Research Center staff for providing logistical support, and the more than 100 high school students, undergraduate students, and researchers that have contributed to the Tyson Research Center Plot (TRCP). Financial support was provided by the International Center for Advanced Renewable Energy and Sustainability (I-CARES) at Washington University in St. Louis, the National Science Foundation (DEB 1144084; DEB 1256788; DEB 1557094), the Smithsonian Center for Tropical Forest Science-Forest Global Earth Observatory (CTFS-ForestGEO) Grants Program, and the Tyson Research Center.

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  1. Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, University of California Riverside, Riverside, CA, 92521, USA

    Marko J. Spasojevic

  2. Department of Biology and Tyson Research Center, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, 63130, USA

    Katherine Harline, Claudia Stein, Scott A. Mangan & Jonathan A. Myers

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Spasojevic, M.J., Harline, K., Stein, C. et al. Landscape context mediates the relationship between plant functional traits and decomposition. Plant Soil 438, 377–391 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-019-04009-w

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