Abstract
Background and aims
Decomposition of leaf and root litter contributes large amounts of phosphorus (P) to soil and is strongly determined by litter quality, morphology, and microbial activity, but the individual and interactive roles of these factors remain underexplored.
Methods
To fill this gap, field litter decomposition experiment was conducted by collecting leaf and fine root litters (< 2 mm) of crop (from cropland), shrub (from shrubland) and wood (from woodland) and placing the litters into woodland soil for 2 years in subtropical China, in order to evaluate effects of the above factors on leaf and fine root litter P loss of three species among different decomposition stages.
Results
Leaf litter P loss was positively correlated with root P loss, and both were primarily controlled by microbes. Leaf litter P loss was more affected by litter quality, while root litter P loss was more affected by morphology during whole decomposition. However, morphology and litter quality were also important controls of leaf P loss at mid-to-late stages and of root P loss at early-to-mid stages.
Conclusion
Our results highlighted that microbes exerted dominant controls with different importance of litter morphology and litter quality during different decomposition, which weakened the coordination between leaf and root decomposition. Overall, different regulation processes of leaf and root litter P loss and associated drivers at different decomposition stages provided novel insight into accurately predicting litter decomposition related to nutrient cycling under future afforestation.
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Data availability
The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author.
Abbreviations
- P:
-
Phosphorus
- C:
-
Carbon
- SOC:
-
Soil organic C
- N:
-
Nitrogen
- SLA:
-
Specific leaf area
- SRL:
-
Specific root length
- RTD:
-
Root tissue density
- G+ :
-
Gram-positive bacteria
- G− :
-
Gram-negative bacteria
- F:
-
Fungi
- ACT:
-
Actinomycetes
- SEM:
-
Structural equation modeling
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Acknowledgements
This research was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32130069) and the “Strategic Priority Research Program A of the Chinese Academy of Sciences” (XDA26010102). We thank Fan Yang, Dandan Zhang and Junjun Wu for assistance in the field and laboratory analyses.
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X.L. C and Q. Z conceived the ideas and designed the methodology; C. L and C.Y. L collected the data; C.Y. L and C. L. analyzed the data; X.L. C and C. L led the writing of the manuscript. All authors contributed critically to the drafts and gave final approval for publication.
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Chang Liao and Chunyan Long are joint first authors: These authors contributed equally to this work.
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Liao, C., Long, C., Zhang, Q. et al. Different regulation processes of litter phosphorus loss for leaf and root under subtropical afforestation. Plant Soil 486, 455–468 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-023-05884-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-023-05884-0