Regulatory factors and differences in plant litter decomposition revealed

Regulatory factors and differences in plant litter decomposition revealed

The regulatory factors and differences of plant litter decomposition are revealed.

Recently, Liu Lingli, a researcher at the Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, built a global level of location and species-matched leaf and fine root decomposition database, and used methods such as enhanced regression trees to analyze the data, revealing the decomposition of leaf and fine root litter Differences in connections and their regulatory factors
.

Related research results were published in "Global Ecology and Biogeography"

Leaf and fine root litter are the two largest components of plant litter input, which together determine the rate of vegetation turnover and nutrient cycling in the ecosystem
.

However, most of the previous studies conducted independent studies on the decomposition of leaf and fine root litter.

To this end, the researchers built a database containing 352 sets of leaf and fine root paired litter decomposition rate and litter characteristics data, and matched the climate, soil physical and chemical characteristics and decomposers (including soil animals and microorganisms) of the research site.
Richness data
.

After analyzing the data using methods such as enhanced regression trees, the researchers found that the chemical properties of leaf and fine root litter such as C:N, P content, N:P, lignin content, cellulose content, non-structural carbon Both the content and the tannin content are positively correlated
.

Even after removing the influence of climate, soil physical and chemical characteristics, and the abundance of decomposers, leaf and fine root litter are positively correlated in different biomes and on a global scale

This study shows that in the long-term evolution process of plants, an economical spectrum of leaves and fine roots is formed.
The acquisition strategy plants with higher nutrient requirements have faster decomposition of roots and leaf litter, thus forming "nutrients".
Demand-decomposition mineralization" coupling strategy
.

At the same time, the study also revealed the similarities and differences between leaf and fine root litter decomposition and regulation factors, which provided a basis for accurate simulation of estimation of vegetation carbon and nitrogen turnover

Guo Lulu, a doctoral student at the Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, is the first author of the paper, and Liu Lingli is the corresponding author
.

The research was funded by the Strategic Leading Science and Technology Special Project of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the National Natural Science Foundation of China

Chinese Academy of Sciences

Related paper information: https://doi.

https://doi.
org/10.
1111/geb.
13384