Litter decomposition and nutrient release as affected by soil nitrogen availability and litter quality in a semiarid grassland ecosystem.

Oecologia
Ping LiuXingguo Han

Abstract

Nitrogen availability is critically important to litter decomposition, especially in arid and semiarid areas where N is limiting. We studied the relative contributions of litter quality and soil N to litter decomposition of two dominant grassland species, Stipa krylovii and Artemisia frigida, in a semiarid typical steppe ecosystem in Inner Mongolia, China. The study had four different rates of N addition (0, 8, 32, and 64 g N m(-2) year(-1)), and litter samples were decomposed under varying site conditions and by litter types. Litter-mixing effects of the two species were also examined. We found that N addition increased litter N concentration and thus enhanced litter decomposition by improving substrate quality. This increase, however, was offset by the negative effect of increased soil N, resulting in a diminished effect of increased soil N availability on in situ litter decomposition. The positive effects of improved litter quality slightly out-performed the negative effects of increased soil N. Our further analysis revealed that the negative effect of increasing soil N on litter decomposition could be partially explained by reduced soil microbial biomass and activity. Decomposition was significantly faster for litters of a ...Continue Reading

References

Sep 11, 2007·Ecology·Joseph M CraineNoah Fierer

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Citations

Jul 5, 2015·Journal of Environmental Sciences (China)·Xiaoxi ZhangWenxuan Wang
Jan 28, 2015·PloS One·Giuliano BonanomiVirginia Lanzotti
Sep 27, 2018·Nature Ecology & Evolution·Meifeng DengBin Wang

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