TY - JOUR
T1 - Multiple mechanisms determine the effect of warming on plant litter decomposition in a dryland
AU - Chuckran, Peter F.
AU - Reibold, Robin
AU - Throop, Heather L.
AU - Reed, Sasha C.
N1 - Funding Information:
We are grateful to Carl Roybal and Hilda Smith for their assistance with the chemical analyses and Erika Geiger for her continued support of the project. This work was supported by the Department of Energy Office of Science (DE-SC-0008168) and by the USGS Ecosystems Mission Area. We appreciate the valuable comments on a previous version of the manuscript from Paul Barnes and two anonymous reviewers. Any use of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.
Funding Information:
We are grateful to Carl Roybal and Hilda Smith for their assistance with the chemical analyses and Erika Geiger for her continued support of the project. This work was supported by the Department of Energy Office of Science ( DE-SC-0008168 ) and by the USGS Ecosystems Mission Area . We appreciate the valuable comments on a previous version of the manuscript from Paul Barnes and two anonymous reviewers. Any use of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2020/6
Y1 - 2020/6
N2 - In drylands, where soil fertility is typically low, plant litter decomposition provides particularly critical carbon and nitrogen inputs into soil. Although climate change is projected to increase the already large global extent of drylands, it is unknown how warmer temperatures will affect core ecosystem processes, such as plant litter decomposition, in these systems. To address this key unknown, we conducted a litterbag study in a long-term dryland warming experiment in southeastern Utah, USA. Unexpectedly, we did not find an overall effect of warming on leaf litter mass loss over time. Instead, our results indicated both positive and negative effects of warming on mass loss which offset one another. In particular, our findings suggested that a warming-induced degradation of biological soil crusts (soil surface community of mosses, lichens, and/or cyanobacteria that live in drylands worldwide) increased soil-litter mixing, thereby accelerating decomposition. Results also suggested that a warming-induced reduction in litter moisture slowed decomposition. In addition, we found that warming lowered the carbon-to-nitrogen ratio of the decomposing litter. These results showed that warming did not alter the total litter mass-loss rates in this ecosystem, but that decomposition patterns were affected through more nuanced changes to both the biological and physical environment of dryland soils.
AB - In drylands, where soil fertility is typically low, plant litter decomposition provides particularly critical carbon and nitrogen inputs into soil. Although climate change is projected to increase the already large global extent of drylands, it is unknown how warmer temperatures will affect core ecosystem processes, such as plant litter decomposition, in these systems. To address this key unknown, we conducted a litterbag study in a long-term dryland warming experiment in southeastern Utah, USA. Unexpectedly, we did not find an overall effect of warming on leaf litter mass loss over time. Instead, our results indicated both positive and negative effects of warming on mass loss which offset one another. In particular, our findings suggested that a warming-induced degradation of biological soil crusts (soil surface community of mosses, lichens, and/or cyanobacteria that live in drylands worldwide) increased soil-litter mixing, thereby accelerating decomposition. Results also suggested that a warming-induced reduction in litter moisture slowed decomposition. In addition, we found that warming lowered the carbon-to-nitrogen ratio of the decomposing litter. These results showed that warming did not alter the total litter mass-loss rates in this ecosystem, but that decomposition patterns were affected through more nuanced changes to both the biological and physical environment of dryland soils.
KW - Biological soil crust
KW - Climate change
KW - Decomposition
KW - Drylands
KW - Plant litter
KW - Warming
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85082649737&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85082649737&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.soilbio.2020.107799
DO - 10.1016/j.soilbio.2020.107799
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85082649737
SN - 0038-0717
VL - 145
JO - Soil Biology and Biochemistry
JF - Soil Biology and Biochemistry
M1 - 107799
ER -