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Dominant species and evenness level co-regulate litter mixture decomposition in a boreal peatland

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Abstract

Background

In boreal peatlands, climate warming and associated soil drying facilitate the growth of vascular plants at the cost of moss species, resulting in an alteration of species dominance in plant communities. However, how altered dominant species and evenness affect litter mixture decomposition is still unclear in these ecosystems.

Methods

We collected fresh litter from Larix gmelinii (tree), Betula fruticosa (shrub), Eriophorum vaginatum (sedge), and Sphagnum magellanicum (moss), and determined mass loss and nitrogen (N) release of four-species mixtures with varying dominant species and evenness at 10 and 20 oC during 360-day decomposition.

Results

Irrespective of the incubation temperature, B. fruticosa-dominated litter mixtures had greatest mass loss and N release throughout decomposition, while S. magellanicum-dominated litter mixtures had lowest values. Moreover, mass loss and N release of B. fruticosa-dominated litter mixtures decreased with elevating evenness after 360 days of decomposition, but the opposite trends were observed for litter mixtures dominated by the other three species. Increasing incubation temperature facilitated decomposition of all litter mixtures, with the lowest magnitude for S. magellanicum-dominated mixtures. Non-additive effects, especially positive effects, on mass loss and N release were common, which played a key role in enhancing the influences of dominant species and evenness on litter mixture decomposition. Moreover, the incidence of positive non-additive effects on mass loss decreased at 20 oC as litter decomposition proceeded.

Conclusions

Warming-induced increased dominance of vascular plants, especially shrubs, will amplify the warming effect on litter decomposition and N availability in boreal peatlands, thus generating positive feedback to climate warming.

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Acknowledgements

This study was financed by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 41671091 and 31570479). We are grateful to the editor and the reviewers for their constructive comments on our manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environment, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, 210046, China

    Xinhou Zhang, Yuanhang Zhang & Shuangshuang Jiang

  2. Key Laboratory of National Forestry and Grassland Administration on Forest Ecosystem Protection and Restoration of Poyang Lake Watershed, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang, 330045, China

    Xinhou Zhang, Yuanhang Zhang & Rong Mao

  3. Key Laboratory of Wetland Ecology and Environment, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, 130102, China

    Xinhou Zhang, Changchun Song & Rong Mao

  4. School of Geography, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, 210046, China

    Jinbo Zhang

  5. College of Forestry, Jiangxi Agricultural University, No. 1101 Zhimin Road, Nanchang, 330045, China

    Rong Mao

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  1. Xinhou Zhang
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Correspondence to Rong Mao.

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Zhang, X., Zhang, Y., Jiang, S. et al. Dominant species and evenness level co-regulate litter mixture decomposition in a boreal peatland. Plant Soil 474, 423–436 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-022-05346-z

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