The role of species and functional group diversity of primary producers for decomposers and decomposition processes is little understood. We made use of the "Jena Biodiversity Experiment" and tested the hypothesis that increasing plant species (1, 4, and 16 species) and functional group diversity (1, 2, 3, and 4 groups) beneficially affects decomposer density and activity and therefore the deco...

The presence of plant litter on the soil surface influINTRODUCTION ences the flow of nutrients, carbon, water, and energy in Ecological Importance of Litter terrestrial ecosystems. Quantifying plant litter cover is Litter is senescent (or dead) plant material that gradually important for interpreting vegetated landscapes and for decomposes into soil. It is difficult to classify litter beevaluat...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Litter is a key factor in structuring plant populations, through positive or negative interactions. The litter layer forms a mechanical barrier that is often strongly selective against individuals lacking hypocotyle plasticity. Litter composition also interacts with plant growth by providing beneficial nutrients or, inversely, by allowing harmful allelopathic leaching. As co...

Plant litter stocks are critical, regionally for their role in fueling fire regimes and controlling soil fertility, and globally through their feedback to atmospheric CO2 and climate. Here we employ two global databases linking plant functional types to decomposition rates of wood and leaf litter (Cornwell et al., 2008; Weedon et al., 2009) to improve future projections of climate and carbon cy...

plant litter is an important factor for soil conservation and sustainability that could modify soil chemical properties and increase the plant biomass production. the aim of this research was to compare plant litter chemical composition and its effects on soil properties in three species including hordeum bulbosum, poa bulbosa, bromus tectorum. first, soil samples were taken in the depth of 0-3...

We investigated arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) alteration of microbial mediation of litter decomposition. AMF (Glomus hoi) were either allowed access to or excluded from Plantago lanceolata L. root litter embedded in soil; litter was labeled with either (13) C only or (13) C and (15) N. Plant N uptake was significantly increased if AMF accessed the litter, and (15) N analysis of the plant m...

Anthropogenic nitrogen (N) enrichment can alter N dynamics associated with decomposing plant litter. However, it is unclear to what extent these alterations occur via microbial effects (e.g., changes in gene regulation, physiology, or community composition) versus plant litter effects (e.g., changes in composition of N and C compounds). To isolate microbial effects from plant litter effects, we...

the aim of this research was to compare the amounts of existing mineral elements in plant aerial parts, litter and soil ofthree range species (bromus tomentellus, psathyrostachys fragilis, agropyron tauri) in order to investigate the litter effectof species on soil properties of taleghan rangeland. the measured mineral elements include carbon, nitrogen,phosphorous and potassium. after selection...

Factors that negatively affect the quality of wildlife habitat are a major concern for conservation. Non-native species invasions, in particular, are perceived as a global threat to the quality of wildlife habitat. Recent evidence indicates that some changes to understory plant communities in northern temperate forests of North America, including invasions by 3 non-native plant species, are fac...