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Does initial litter chemistry explain litter mixture effects on decomposition?

  • Ecosystem Ecology
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Abstract

We tested the hypothesis that interactions in litter mixtures (expressed as the difference between observed and expected decomposition rates) are greater when the component species differ more in their initial litter chemistry. Thereto, we collected freshly senesced leaf litter from a wide range of species from an old field and woodland vegetation, and a fen ecosystem in The Netherlands. Litterbags with either mono-specific litter (20 and 15 species), or litter mixtures (50 and 42 species pairs) of randomly drawn combinations of two representatives from different plant functional types were incubated for 20, 35 and 54 weeks in a purpose-built decomposition bed (woodland/old field) or in the field (fen). Species showed a wide range of decomposition rates. For the woodland/old field species, initial litter C and P concentrations were significantly correlated with litter decomposition rate. For the fen species, litter phenolics concentration was correlated with decomposition rate. If the Sphagnum species were left out of the analyses, initial litter P and phenolics concentration both showed a significant relationship, albeit only with the remaining mass after 1 year. Differences between observed and expected decomposition were often considerable in individual litter mixtures. Regression analysis showed that such differences were not related to the differences in litter chemistry of the component species. Furthermore, litter mixtures containing species with very different initial litter chemistry did not show stronger interaction when tested against litter mixtures containing chemically similar litter types. From these observations we conclude that the difference in initial single litter chemistry parameters of the component is not a useful concept to explain interactions in litter mixtures.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank R. Broekman for help with the chemical analyses, and P. van Bodegom and H. Cornelissen for their constructive comments on an earlier version of this manuscript. The authors would further like to thank W. van der Putten for permission to collect plant litter at the CLUE experimental field site at ‘De Mossel’.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Ecological Science, Department of Systems Ecology, Vrije Universiteit, De Boelelaan 1085, 1081 HV, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Bart Hoorens, Rien Aerts & Martin Stroetenga

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  1. Bart Hoorens
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  2. Rien Aerts
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  3. Martin Stroetenga
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Bart Hoorens.

Appendix

Appendix

List of species (ordered into functional groups) used in the experiment. Litter C, N, P and total phenolics concentrations are given for each species, as well as the average fraction remaining mass at the end of the experiment. Nomenclature follows Van der Meijden (1990) for vascular plants and Smith (1978) for Sphagna (Table 5).

Table 5.
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Hoorens, B., Aerts, R. & Stroetenga, M. Does initial litter chemistry explain litter mixture effects on decomposition?. Oecologia 137, 578–586 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-003-1365-6

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