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Litterfall interception by understorey vegetation delayed litter decomposition in Cinnamomum camphora plantation forest

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Abstract

Aims

This study was carried out to improve our understanding of the interception effect of understorey vegetation on litter decomposition in Cinnamomum camphora plantation forest of subtropical China.

Methods

The interception simulation experiment in field was performed to determine how the litterfall interception delayed the leaf litter decomposition of C. camphora, by comparing the difference in variables among 4 litter interception locations.

Results

The results showed that total mass loss, lignin loss, cellulose loss, microbial activities (CO2 release, fungal biomass and enzyme activities), and water content except nitrogen for litters on the crown were significantly lower than that of litters without interception. The maximum mass loss difference value among litter locations reached 35 %, indicative of obvious decomposition delay by the understorey. Litter CO2 release, enzyme activities and water content exhibited a clear seasonal pattern, suggesting a strong relation between the degree of microbial activities and the succession of cold and warm as well as moist and dry periods. A clear nitrogen increase was observed in this experiment, indicating persistent immobilization. No clear variation pattern in nitrogen content was observed in this study, which was probably mixed by the N precipitation from acid rain.

Conclusions

The litterfall interception delayed the decomposition of leaf litter, displaying slow decomposition rate and inhibitive microbial activities by interception, which presumably resulted from low water content on the crown.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by Project of National Natural Science Foundation of China (31100370), Project of Hu’nan Provincial Innovation Base for Graduate Development in Karst Rangeland Ecosystem Research (201101A), the Construct Program of the Key Discipline in Hu’nan Province (JSU0713Z02), Project of Natural Science Foundation of Hu’nan Province (13JJ3092), Open Project of Innovation Platform in University of Hu’nan Province (12K107), and Project of Natural Science Foundation of Anhui Province (1208085QC70). We are grateful to the three anonymous referees who provided constructive suggestions to greatly improve our manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Biology and Environmental Sciences, Jishou University, Jishou, 416000, China

    Xingbing He, Yonghui Lin & Taowu Ma

  2. School of Life Sciences, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei, 230036, China

    Guomin Han

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  1. Xingbing He
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  2. Yonghui Lin
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  3. Guomin Han
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Correspondence to Xingbing He.

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He, X., Lin, Y., Han, G. et al. Litterfall interception by understorey vegetation delayed litter decomposition in Cinnamomum camphora plantation forest. Plant Soil 372, 207–219 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-013-1734-9

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