Decomposition and nutrient dynamic of leaf litter and roots from palatable and unpalatable grasses in a semi-arid grassland

By A. Moretto, R. Distel, N. Didoné. 2001

147 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Abstract A field experiment was conducted in a temperate semi-arid grassland of central Argentina to test the hypothesis that decomposition of and nutrient release from leaf litter and roots are faster in Poa ligularis and Stipa clarazii (high-nutrient, palatable grasses) than in S. tenuissima (low-nutrient, unpalatable grass). Leaf litter and roots of each species were incubated in 0.35 mm mesh bags for 21 months at their source sites. Leaf litter decomposition was faster ( P P S. clarazii than in P. ligularis and S. tenuissima . At the end of the incubation period nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) release from the leaf litter was higher ( P P >0.05) among species in N and P release from the roots. The results on leaf litter support the hypothesis that decomposition and nutrient release are faster in the palatable than in the unpalatable grasses, whereas the results on roots did not support this hypothesis. Moreover, since below-ground production represents the major input of new soil organic matter in the system, the N and P dynamics of roots suggest a low capacity to immobilize nutrients in both palatable and unpalatable grasses.

Subfields: Nature and Landscape Conservation, Soil Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/c19b962e600967eda62fbab260dc41068d579be2

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Nature and Landscape Conservation

In Soil Science

Citations in the corpus

Aboveground litter quality changes may drive soil organic carbon increase after shrub encroachment into mountain grasslands (2010, background): “This slow decomposition of grass roots may not be explained by the use of roots of an unpalatable grass (F. eskia), because roots of grasses with different palatability show similar decomposition rates (Moretto et al. 2001).”
Grazing history effects on above- and below-ground litter decomposition and nutrient cycling in two co-occurring grasses (2008, background): “These authors found that shoot litter from palatable grasses decomposed twice as fast as that from unpalatable grasses, although root decomposition rates did not differ between both types of grasses (Moretto et al. 2001).”
Linkages between plant functional composition, fine root processes and potential soil N mineralization rates (2009, background): “…that, in contrast to leaf litter, fine roots may show little N immobilization during decomposition, even when they have C : N ratios comparable to those of leaf litter types that do exhibit immobilization (Seastedt et al. 1992; Moretto et al. 2001, Personeni & Loiseau 2005; Parton et al. 2007).”
Litter quality and nutrient cycling affected by grazing‐induced species replacements along a precipitation gradient (2004, background): “Moretto et al. (2001) found that palatable and non-palatable grasses differed in litter decomposition, and nitrogen and phosphorus release at the leaf, but not at the root level.”