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Standing Litter Decomposition and the Role of Dew and Solar Radiation in a Freshwater Wetland

  • Wetland Biogeochemistry
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Abstract

Standing litter decomposition generally plays important roles in biogeochemical cycling in wetlands. By contrast with dew, the role of solar radiation receives less attention in humid ecosystems. Here, we determined aerial decomposition dynamics of five litters in a freshwater wetland in the Yangtze-Huaihe basin. Moreover, we analyzed the role of dew and sunlight in the decomposition of Phragmites australis culm and leaf based on a simulation experiment. After 360 days of field decomposition, the mass loss ranged from 31.1% to 80.7%, significantly relating to litter nutrient, cellulose, and lignin concentrations. In the simulation experiment, the sunlight treatment rather than the dew treatment facilitated mass loss of culm, and the mass loss in the dew + sunlight treatment was greater than the sunlight treatment. For the leaf, both sunlight and dew treatments increased mass loss, and the mass loss in the dew + sunlight treatment was greater relative to that in the dew and the sunlight treatments. In addition, the mass loss was not significantly different between the sterilization and the control treatments, irrespective of tissue. However, the sterilization + sunlight treatment increased the mass loss of culm, despite no significant effects on the leaf. These findings confirm the importance of standing litter in biogeochemical cycling of freshwater wetlands in the Yangtze-Huaihe basin. Moreover, this study highlights the important role of sunlight and its combined action with dew in regulating litter decomposition in humid ecosystems, where the specific role varies with litter quality.

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Data Availability

The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

This study was financed by the Key Research and Development Project of Jiangsu Province (No. BK20220016) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41671091).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nature Department, Shandong Museum, Jinan, 250014, China

    Zhaojie Ren

  2. School of Environment, Nanjing Normal University, No.1 Wenyuan Road, Nanjing, 210046, China

    Wei Jiang & Xinhou Zhang

  3. College of Biology and Environment, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, 210037, China

    Jiangang Han

Authors
  1. Zhaojie Ren
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  2. Wei Jiang
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  3. Jiangang Han
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  4. Xinhou Zhang
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Contributions

Xinhou Zhang designed the study. Wei Jiang performed the experiments. Zhaojie Ren, Wei Jiang, and Xinhou Zhang analyzed the data. Zhaojie Ren, Wei Jiang, and Xinhou Zhang wrote the manuscript. Jiangang Han provided editorial advice.

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Correspondence to Wei Jiang or Xinhou Zhang.

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Ren, Z., Jiang, W., Han, J. et al. Standing Litter Decomposition and the Role of Dew and Solar Radiation in a Freshwater Wetland. Wetlands 43, 76 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-023-01727-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-023-01727-x

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