The relative abundance of different components the soil food web can vary tremendously in response to plant resource inputs. However, little is known about mechanisms that regulates energy fluxes and community composition. Here, we experimentally reduced litter root inputs for two years China at low-, mid-, high-latitude forests explore effects plant-derived on nematode flux Litter reduction hi...

Tropical forests play a substantial role in the global carbon (C) cycle and are projected to experience significant environmental change, highlighting the importance of understanding the factors that control C and N cycling in this biome. Yet interactions between biogeochemical and abiotic variables, notably species diversity and precipitation, remain poorly resolved in the tropics. In a wet lo...

Litter quality and soil environmental conditions are well-studied drivers influencing decomposition rates, but the role played by disturbance legacy, such as fire history, in mediating these drivers is not well understood. Fire history may impact decomposition directly, through changes in soil conditions that impact microbial function, or indirectly, through shifts in plant community compositio...

The decomposition and fate of 15N-labeled beech litter was monitored in three European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) forests (Aubure, France; Ebrach, Germany; and Collelongo, Italy) for 3 years. Circular plots around single beech trees were isolated from roots of neighboring trees by soil trenching, and annual litterfall was replaced by 15N-labeled litter. Nitrogen was continuously released from t...

The quantity and quality of detritus entering the soil determines the rate of decomposition by microbial communities as well as recycle rates of nitrogen (N) and carbon (C) sequestration. Plant litter comprises the majority of detritus, and so it is assumed that decomposition is only marginally influenced by biomass inputs from animals such as herbivores and carnivores. However, carnivores may ...

Recent studies have shown that the use of aluminum sulfate [alum, Al2(SO4)3.14H2O] and aluminum chloride (AlCl3) additions to animal manures are more effective than other chemicals in reducing ammonia (NH3) emissions and P solubility. Although the use of Al2(SO4)3.14H2O has been intensively used in the poultry industry for many years, no research has been conducted to evaluate the effect of liq...

The role of plant intraspecific variation in plant-soil linkages is poorly understood, especially in the context of natural environmental variation, but has important implications in evolutionary ecology. We utilized three 18- to 21-year-old common gardens across an elevational gradient, planted with replicates of five Populus angustifolia genotypes each, to address the hypothesis that tree gen...

The internal correlation of plant, litter and soil stoichiometric characteristics their responses to the environment are helpful for revealing nutrient cycling mechanisms. However, few studies have assessed relationship between stock along elevational gradients, which limit understanding relationships in ecosystem. To gain insight into forces its ecological gradients forest ecosystem, we invest...