Effects of soil fauna on litter decomposition in Chinese forests: a meta-analysis

PeerJ

article

Peng Zan¹  Zijun Mao¹  Tao Sun³ 

[1]Northeast Forestry University, Key Laboratory of Forest Plant Ecology, Ministry of Education

[2]Northeast Forestry University, College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Resource Utilization

[3]Chinese Academy of Sciences, Key Laboratory of Forest Ecology and Management, Institute of Applied Ecology, Shenyang, Liaoning province

关键词: Climate;    Litter quality;    Cellulose;    Nitrogen;    Size effect;   

DOI  :  10.7717/peerj.12747

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Inra

【 摘 要 】

temperate forest (28%). Comparing the effect size of soil fauna, it was found that when soil fauna was excluded, the decomposition rate, calculated using Olson’s equation, was most affected in tropical forest (−0.77), while the litter decomposition rate both subtropical (−0.36) and temperate forest (−0.19) were also suppressed to varying degrees (P < 0.001). These results highlight that soil fauna could promote litter decomposition to different extents. Using stepwise multiple linear regression, the effect size of the soil fauna was negatively correlated with the cellulose and nitrogen concentrations of the initial litter material. In Chinese forests, litter decomposition rates were reduced, on average, by 65% when soil fauna was excluded. The impact of soil fauna on decomposition was shown to be closely related to climate and litter quality.

【 授权许可】

CC BY