The effects of leaf litter evenness on decomposition depend on which plant functional group is dominant |
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Authors: | Daijiang Li Shaolin Peng Baoming Chen |
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Institution: | 1. State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-Sen University, 510275, Guangzhou, China 2. Department of Botany, University of Wisconsin–Madison, 430 Lincoln Drive, Madison, WI, 53706, USA
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Abstract: | Background and aims Climbing plants are increasing in dominance in the subtropical forests of South China and other areas around the world, altering patterns of plant dominance and evenness in community. We investigated how changes in species’ identity and patterns of leaf litter evenness affected decomposition of litter mixtures. Methods We used litter-bag method to study the influence of different relative abundance mixtures (75 % : 25 %; 50 % : 50 %; 25 % : 75 %) of plant litter from two functional groups (climbing plants and trees) on decomposition rates in a subtropical forest in Guangdong, China. Results We found negative non-additive effects of mixing litter overall and species composition affected decomposition rates the most. In addition, when climbing plants were dominant, even mixtures decomposed slower significantly than uneven mixtures. Evenness did not affect decomposition rates, however, when trees were dominant. The magnitude of antagonistic effects increased with increasing dominance of climbing plants but decreased with time, suggesting a strong negative feedback between litter proportion of climbing plant and decomposition rates at the initial stage. Conclusion The evenness in leaf litter composition affects rates of decomposition, but these effects depend on which plant functional group is dominant. Thus, we should pay more attention to shifts in identity of dominant species and patterns of community evenness. |
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