We extend the resource concentration hypothesis (herbivorous insects are more likely to find and stay in more dense and less diverse patches of their host plants) to plant communities. Specifically, whenever superior plant competitors spread to form dense stands, they will be found and attacked by their specialist insect enemies. This will decrease host plant abundance, causing a reduction in s...

Litter decomposition is a keystone ecosystem process impacting nutrient cycling and productivity, soil properties, and the terrestrial carbon (C) balance, but the factors regulating decomposition rate are still poorly understood. Traditional models assume that the rate is controlled by litter quality, relying on parameters such as lignin content as predictors. However, a strong correlation has ...

Invasive plants are often associated with greater productivity and soil nutrient availabilities, but whether invasive plants with dissimilar traits change decomposer communities and decomposition rates in consistent ways is little known. We compared decomposition rates and the fungal and bacterial communities associated with the litter of three problematic invaders in intermountain grasslands; ...

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...

Aquatic hyphomycete assemblages on different types of plant litter in Belarus rivers and streams were investigated to determine whether any substrate specificity or preferences were apparent. Pooled samples (146) from 92 watercourses were analysed. Colonization coefficients were computed for each fungal taxa and substrate type and the resulting matrix analysed with principal component analysis ...

Historically, slow decomposition rates have resulted in the accumulation of large amounts of carbon in northern peatlands. Both climate warming and vegetation change can alter rates of decomposition, and hence affect rates of atmospheric CO2 exchange, with consequences for climate change feedbacks. Although warming and vegetation change are happening concurrently, little is known about their re...

SUMMARY (1) Recent evidence indicates tight control of plant resource economics over interspecific trait variation among species, both within and across organs. Here we demonstrate that this 'Plant economics spectrum' has important afterlife effects on carbon turnover by driving coordinated decomposition rates of different organs across species. (2) To that end, we conducted a common-garden dec...

The global terrestrial heterotrophic respiration is estimated at about 60 Gt C yr-1 (Schlesinger, 1991). Plant litter produced during senescence processes and plant residues left on site after harvest operations are the primary substrate for heterotrophic respiration in plant-soil ecosystems. They constitute both of aboveground and belowground plant parts. Substrate quality, together with the p...

Compost, poultry litter, IPM Lab Biopesticide and BAU-Biofungicide, either alone or in combinations, were assessed for their effect in controlling early blight disease, and on growth and yield parameters of tomato. The lowest early blight incidence and severity were recorded in T13 (compost tea + poultry litter extract + BAU-Bio-fungicide) followed by T12 (compost tea + poultry litter extract +...

Rates of ecosystem processes such as decomposition are likely to change as a result of human impacts on the environment. In southern California, climate change and nitrogen (N) deposition in particular may alter biological communities and ecosystem processes. These drivers may affect decomposition directly, through changes in abiotic conditions, and indirectly through changes in plant and decom...