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Relationships between soil–litter interface enzyme activities and decomposition in Pinus massoniana plantations in China

  • Soils, Sec 2 • Global Change, Environ Risk Assess, Sustainable Land Use • Research Article
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Abstract

Purpose

Enzyme activities in decomposing litter are directly related to the rate of litter mass loss and have been widely accepted as indicators of changes in belowground processes. Studies of variation in enzyme activities of soil–litter interface and its effects on decomposition are lacking. Evaluating enzyme activities in this layer is important to better understand energy flow and nutrient cycling in forest ecosystems.

Materials and methods

Litter decomposition and the seasonal dynamics of soil–litter enzyme activities were investigated in situ in 20- (younger) and 46-year-old (older) Pinus massoniana stands for 540 days from August 2010 to March 2012 by litterbag method. We measured potential activities of invertase, cellulase, urease, polyphenol oxidase, and peroxidase in litter and the upper mineral soils, and evaluated their relationships with the main environment factors.

Results and discussion

Remaining litter mass was 57.6 % of the initial weights in the younger stands and 61.3 % in the older stands after 540-day decomposition. Levels of enzyme activity were higher in the litter layer than in the soil layer. Soil temperature, litter moisture, and litter nitrogen (N) concentration were the most important factors affecting the enzyme activities. The enzyme activity showed significantly seasonal dynamics in association with the seasonal variations in temperature, water, and decomposition stages. Remaining litter dry mass was found to be significantly linearly correlated with enzyme activities (except for litter peroxidase), which indicates an important role of enzyme activity in the litter decomposition process.

Conclusions

Our results indicated the important effects of biotic (litter N) and abiotic factors (soil temperature and litter moisture) on soil–litter interface enzyme activities. Overall significant linear relationship between remaining dry mass and enzyme activities highlighted the important role of enzyme activity in affecting litter decomposition processes, which will further influence nutrient cycling in forest ecosystems. Our results contributed to the better understanding of the mechanistic link between upper soil–litter extracellular enzyme production and litter decomposition in forest ecosystems.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (31400531), the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2016YF0600202), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Non-profit Research Institution (CAFRIFEEP201101 and CAFBB2014QA008), the Chinese forestry industry, research and special public welfare (Project No. 201104008), Zigui Forest Ecosystem Research Station of State Forestry Administration and CFERN&GENE Award Funds on Ecological Paper. We are grateful to the staff of the Key Laboratory of Forest Ecology and Environment for chemical analysis. We also thank anonymous reviewers for helpful suggestions on the manuscript. Xiaogai Ge and Wenfa Xiao contributed equally to this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Institute of Subtropical Forestry, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 311400, China

    Xiaogai Ge & Benzhi Zhou

  2. State Forestry Administration Key Laboratory of Forest Ecology and Environment, Research Institute of Forest Ecology, Environment and Protection, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing, 100091, China

    Xiaogai Ge, Wenfa Xiao, Lixiong Zeng & Zhilin Huang

  3. Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, Zuercherstrasse 111, 8903, Birmensdorf, Switzerland

    Marcus Schaub & Mai-He Li

  4. Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, 110164, China

    Mai-He Li

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  1. Xiaogai Ge
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Correspondence to Lixiong Zeng or Mai-He Li.

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Ge, X., Xiao, W., Zeng, L. et al. Relationships between soil–litter interface enzyme activities and decomposition in Pinus massoniana plantations in China. J Soils Sediments 17, 996–1008 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-016-1591-2

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