Skip to main content
SLU:s publikationsdatabas (SLUpub)

Forskningsartikel2008Vetenskapligt granskad

Plant species traits are the predominant control on litter decomposition rates within biomes worldwide

Cornwell, William K.; Cornelissen, Johannes H. C.; Amatangelo, Kathryn; Dorrepaal, Ellen; Eviner, Valerie T.; Godoy, Oscar; Hobbie, Sarah E.; Hoorens, Bart; Kurokawa, Hiroko; Perez-Harguindeguy, Natalia; Quested, Helen M.; Santiago, Louis S.; Wardle, David A.; Wright, Ian J.; Aerts, Rien; Allison, Steven D.; van Bodegom, Peter; Brovkin, Victor; Chatain, Alex; Callaghan, Terry V.;
Visa fler författare

Sammanfattning

Worldwide decomposition rates depend both on climate and the legacy of plant functional traits as litter quality. To quantify the degree to which functional differentiation among species affects their litter decomposition rates, we brought together leaf trait and litter mass loss data for 818 species from 66 decomposition experiments on six continents. We show that: (i) the magnitude of species-driven differences is much larger than previously thought and greater than climate-driven variation; (ii) the decomposability of a species' litter is consistently correlated with that species' ecological strategy within different ecosystems globally, representing a new connection between whole plant carbon strategy and biogeochemical cycling. This connection between plant strategies and decomposability is crucial for both understanding vegetation-soil feedbacks, and for improving forecasts of the global carbon cycle.

Nyckelord

carbon cycling; decomposition; leaf economic spectrum; leaf traits; meta-analysis

Publicerad i

Ecology Letters
2008, Volym: 11, nummer: 10, sidor: 1065-1071
Utgivare: BLACKWELL PUBLISHING

      SLU författare

    • Wardle, David

      • Institutionen för skoglig vegetationsekologi, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet
      • Landcare Research

    UKÄ forskningsämne

    Miljö- och naturvårdsvetenskap

    Publikationens identifierare

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1461-0248.2008.01219.x

    Permanent länk till denna sida (URI)

    https://res.slu.se/id/publ/19476