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Impacts of soil fauna on nitrogen and phosphorus release during litter decomposition were differently controlled by plant species and ecosystem type

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Abstract

The dynamics of litter nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) release could be affected by soil fauna and environmental conditions. The objective of the present study was to investigate the effects of soil fauna on the dynamics of N and P during foliar litter decomposition in three types of ecosystems (i.e., montane forest, ecotone, and dry valley) along an elevation gradient. A field experiment using litterbags with two different mesh sizes (0.04 and 3 mm) was conducted from November 2013 to October 2014. Nitrogen and P release rates in decomposing foliar litter from fir (Abies faxoniana) and birch (Betula albosinensis) in montane forest, oak (Quercus baronii) and cypress (Cupressus chengiana) in ecotone, and cypress and clovershrub (Campylotropis macrocarpa) in dry valley were investigated in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. Soil fauna strongly affected N and P release across different decomposition periods and ecosystem types. The average release rate of N mediated by soil fauna across the entire year was higher in the dry valley (15.6–37.3%) than in the montane forest (0.5–6.4%) and the ecotone (− 3.7–4.9%). The effects of soil fauna on P release rate were manifest in both the montane forest and the dry valley. Moreover, the impacts of soil fauna can vary substantially among different decomposition periods. Our results indicated that soil fauna can significantly affect N and P release during litter decomposition. The N release rate mediated by fauna was likely to be more sensitive to the effects of plant species (i.e., initial litter chemical traits), while the P release rate mediated by soil fauna might be subject to the effects of local-scale environmental factors (e.g., temperature) to a greater extent .

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Dr. Zhenfeng Xu, Dr. Xiangyin Ni and Mr. Ruilong Liu for their help with the field investigations and laboratory analyses.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Long-term Research Station of Alpine Forest Ecosystems, Provincial Key Laboratory of Ecological Forestry Engineering, Institute of Ecology and Forestry, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, 611130, Sichuan, People’s Republic of China

    Yan Peng, Wanqin Yang, Kai Yue, Bo Tan & Fuzhong Wu

  2. Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen, Rolighedsvej 23, 1958, Frederiksberg C, Denmark

    Yan Peng

  3. Collaborative Innovation Center for Ecological Security in the Upper Reaches of the Yangtze River, Chengdu, 611130, People’s Republic of China

    Wanqin Yang, Bo Tan & Fuzhong Wu

Authors
  1. Yan Peng
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  2. Wanqin Yang
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  3. Kai Yue
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  4. Bo Tan
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  5. Fuzhong Wu
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Fuzhong Wu.

Additional information

Project funding: This research was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31670526, 31622018, 31570445 and 31500509) and the Doctoral Scientific Fund Project of the Ministry of Education of China (20135103110002).

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Corresponding editor: Hu Yanbo.

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Peng, Y., Yang, W., Yue, K. et al. Impacts of soil fauna on nitrogen and phosphorus release during litter decomposition were differently controlled by plant species and ecosystem type. J. For. Res. 30, 921–930 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11676-018-0664-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11676-018-0664-z

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