Chemistry and toughness predict leaf litter decomposition rates over a wide spectrum of functional types and taxa in central Argentina
By N. Pérez‐Harguindeguy, Sandra Díaz, J. H. C. Cornelissen, F. Vendramini, Marcelo R. Cabido, A. Castellanos. Plant and Soil, 2004
382 citations recorded by the source corpus.
Litter decomposition, a major determinant of ecosystem functioning, is strongly influenced by the litter quality of different species. We aimed at (1) relating interspecific variation in leaf litter decomposition rate to the functional types different species belong to; and (2) understanding the chemical and/or physical basis for such variation and its robustness to environmental factors. We selected 52 Angiosperms from a climatic gradient in central-western Argentina, representing the widest range of functional types and habitats published so far. Ten litter samples of each species were simultaneously buried for 9 weeks during the 1996 summer in an experimental decomposition bed. Decomposition rate was defined as the percentage of dry mass loss after incubation. Chemical litter quality was measured as carbon (C) content, nitrogen (N) content, and C-to-N ratio. Since tensile strength of litter and living leaves were strongly correlated, the latter was chosen as an indicator of physical litter quality. A subset of 15 species representing different functional types was also incubated in England for 15 weeks, following a similar experimental procedure. Litter C-to-N and leaf tensile strength of the leaves showed the strongest negative associations with decomposition rate, both at the species and at the functional-type level. Decomposition rates of the same species in Argentina and in England were strongly correlated. This reinforces previous evidence that species rankings in terms of litter decomposition rates are robust to methodological and environmental factors. This paper has shown new evidence of plant control over the turnover of organic matter through litter quality, and confirms, over a broad spectrum of functional types, general models of resource allocation. The strong correlations between leaf tensile strength – a trait that is easy and quick to measure in a large number of species – decomposition rate, and C-to-N ratio indicate that leaf tensile strength can be useful in linking plant quality to decomposition patterns at the ecosystem level.
Subfields: Global and Planetary Change, Nature and Landscape Conservation
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/cc88b3836c64af3258a5d98e93f1953769624889
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Citations in the corpus
- The plant traits that drive ecosystems: Evidence from three continents (2004, positive): “…decomposition rate was expressed as percentage of dry weight loss of 1 g litter in bags buried in a standard decomposition bed in an experimental garden under natural climatic conditions in the cities of Sheffield (England) and Córdoba (Argentina) (Cornelissen 1996; Pérez-Harguindeguy et al. 2000).”
- Effects of Tree Species Diversity on Litter Quality and Decomposition (2005, background): “In many other cases, there were no effects of litter species mixtures on litter mass loss (Johnston 1953; Blair et al. 1990; Klemmedson 1992; McTiernan et al. 1997; Hansen and Coleman 1998; Nilsson et al. 1999; Prescott et al. 2000; see Fig. 8.4), supporting the hypothesis of purely additive effec”
- A trait-based approach to comparative functional plant ecology: concepts, methods and applications for agroecology. A review (2012, background): “…persist through senescence, leading to the so-called afterlife effects (Grime and Anderson 1986), whereby certain features of living organs relate to those of dead leaves, i.e. leaf litter (Cornelissen and Thompson 1997; Wardle et al. 1998; Cornelissen et al. 1999; Pérez-Harguindeguy et al. 2000).”
- Leaf digestibility and litter decomposability are related in a wide range of subarctic plant species and types (2004, background): “Experimental evidence is accumulating for an important component of this feedback, namely that interspecific variation in the functional traits of living leaves has important ‘afterlife’ effects in the form of interspecific variation in litter quality and decomposability (Cornelissen 1996; Hobbie 19”
- A handbook of protocols for standardised and easy measurement of plant functional traits worldwide (2003, background): “…(1988); Vincent (1990); Choong et al. (1992); Turner (1994); Wright and Illius (1995); Choong (1996); Wright and Vincent (1996); Cornelissen and Thompson (1997); Cornelissen et al. (1999); Lucas et al. (2000); Pérez-Harguindeguy et al. (2000); Wright and Cannon (2001); Wright and Westoby (2002).”
- Plant functional traits, herbivore selectivity and response to sheep grazing in Patagonian steppe grasslands (2005, background): “As SLA is related to key ecosystem processes, such as litter decomposition and productivity (Cornelissen et al. 1999; Pérez-Harguindeguy et al. 2000; Lavorel & Garnier 2002), grazing in this case markedly changed ecosystem functioning.”
- Co-variations in litter decomposition, leaf traits and plant growth in species from a Mediterranean old-field succession (2006, background): “Several studies have shown that leaf litter decomposability relates to the physical properties of living organs such as leaf toughness (Cornelissen et al . 1999; Perez-Harguindeguy et al . 2000 ) and chemical composition (reviewed by Wardle 2002).”
- Plant traits, litter quality and decomposition in a Mediterranean old-field succession (2007, neutral): “For example, life-form and deciduous versus evergreen habit (Cornelissen 1996; Pérez-Harguindeguy et al. 2000; Quested et al. 2003; Dorrepaal et al. 2005), leaf life span, foliar nutrient content, components of leaf structure (Gillon et al.”
- Plant traits relate to whole‐community litter quality and decomposition following land use change (2007, background): “…between traits and processes apparent using comparative approaches at the leaf- and species-level (Cornelissen 1996; Cornelissen & Thompson 1997; Cornelissen et al. 1999, 2004, 2006; Pérez-Harguindeguy et al. 2000; Gurvich et al. 2003; Kazakou et al. 2006) are applicable to whole communities.”
- Biodiversity Regulation of Ecosystem Services (2005, background): “For example, wood decomposes more slowly than herbaceous material, and slow-growing plants characteristic of low-resource environments produce leaves that decompose more slowly than those of more rapidly growing plants (Cornelissen 1996; Pérez-Harguindeguy et al. 2000), enhancing carbon sequestratio”
- Leaf traits and herbivore selection in the field and in cafeteria experiments (2003, background): “The consideration of this steep climatic gradient allowed us to select a wide range of plant families and functional types, ranging from maximum allocation to assimilation and growth, to maximum allocation to storage and defence (Diaz & Cabido 1997; Perez-Harguindeguy et al . 2000; Vendramini et a”
- Leaf economics traits predict litter decomposition of tropical plants and differ among land use types (2011, background): “Litter decomposition is controlled by three main factors: environmental conditions, the decomposer community and substrate quality (Pérez-Harguindeguy et al. 2000; Toledo Castanho & Adalardo de Oliveira 2008).”