Litter decomposition is a fundamental process in carbon and nutrient cycling in terrestrial ecosystems. In a microcosm experiment we investigated the determinants of leaf decomposition with consideration of the 'afterlife' effect hypothesis, which suggests a connection between green leaf traits and the decomposability of leaf material. We collected senesced litter and living leaves of individuals of four Carex species widely distributed in the Czech Republic. We aimed to determine the extent of intra- and interspecific variability in decomposition rates (k values), whether species ranking was consistent along environmental gradients and whether intraspecific trait variability affected litter decomposability, as we would expect from the 'afterlife' effect hypothesis. While litter quality and decomposition rates significantly differed between fresh leaves and litter, species identity explained a prominent amount of variability in both. The effect of populations was around a tenth of species identity's, nonetheless still significant. Environmental variables and leaf traits generally showed rather weak or non-significant correlations with decomposition rates, which suggests that within closely related species ecological preferences might not be correlated with leaf decomposability, nor the conditions of individual localities are modifying tissue quality in a way to affect decomposability. While the correlation between fresh leaf and litter decomposition rates was not very strong (r = 0.51), fresh leaves provided a fair prediction of litter decomposition. However, considering the pattern of intra- and interspecific differences in decomposition rates, and the quality of fresh leaves and litter, using litter to determine leaf decomposability might give more realistic results.

Biology Center of the Czech Academy of Sciences Institute of Entomology České Budějovice Czech Republic

Department of Botany Faculty of Science University of South Bohemia České Budějovice Czech Republic

Institute of Botany Czech Academy of Sciences Třeboň Czech Republic

Zobrazit více v PubMed

Aerts R (1996) Nutrient resorption from senescing leaves of perennials: Are there general patterns? J Ecol 84:597–608. 10.2307/2261481 DOI

Aerts R (1997) Climate, leaf litter chemistry and leaf litter decomposition in terrestrial ecosystems: a triangular relationship. Oikos 79:439–449. 10.2307/3546886 DOI

Aerts R, de Caluwe H (1997) Nutritional and plant-mediated controls on leaf litter decomposition of DOI

Aerts R, De Caluwe H, Beltman B (2003) Plant community mediated vs. nutritional controls on litter decomposition rates in grasslands. Ecology 84:3198–3208. 10.1890/02-0712 DOI

Albert CH, Grassein F, Schurr FM et al (2011) When and how should intraspecific variability be considered in trait-based plant ecology? Perspect Plant Ecol Evol System 13:217–225. 10.1016/j.ppees.2011.04.003 DOI

Bontti EE, Decant JP, Munson SM et al (2009) Litter decomposition in grasslands of Central North America (US Great Plains). Glob Change Biol 15:1356–1363. 10.1111/j.1365-2486.2008.01815.x DOI

Bumb I, Garnier E, Coq S et al (2018) Traits determining the digestibility–decomposability relationships in species from Mediterranean rangelands. Ann Bot 121:459–469. 10.1093/aob/mcx175 PubMed DOI PMC

Bumb I, Garnier E, Bastianelli D et al (2016) Influence of management regime and harvest date on the forage quality of rangelands plants: the importance of dry matter content. Plants. 10.1093/aobpla/plw045 PubMed DOI PMC

Busch J (2001) Characteristic values of key ecophysiological parameters in the genus DOI

Chytrý M, Tichý L, Dřevojan P et al (2018) Ellenberg-type indicator values for the Czech flora. Preslia. 10.23855/preslia.2018.083 DOI

Cornelissen JHC (1996) An experimental comparison of leaf decomposition rates in a wide range of temperate plant species and types. J Ecol 84:573–582. 10.2307/2261479 DOI

Cornelissen JHC, Thompson K (1997) Functional leaf attributes predict litter decomposition rate in herbaceous plants. New Phytol 135:109–114. 10.1046/j.1469-8137.1997.00628.x PubMed DOI

Cornelissen JHC, Pérez-Harguindeguy N, Díaz S et al (1999) Leaf structure and defence control litter decomposition rate across species and life forms in regional floras on two continents. New Phytol 143:191–200. 10.1046/j.1469-8137.1999.00430.x DOI

Cornelissen JHC, Quested HM, Gwynn-Jones D et al (2004) Leaf digestibility and litter decomposability are related in a wide range of subarctic plant species and types. Funct Ecol 18:779–786. 10.1111/j.0269-8463.2004.00900.x DOI

Cornwell WK, Cornelissen JHC, Amatangelo K et al (2008) Plant species traits are the predominant control on litter decomposition rates within biomes worldwide. Ecol Lett 11:1065–1071. 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2008.01219.x PubMed DOI

Cortez J, Garnier E, Pérez-Harguindeguy N et al (2007) Plant traits, litter quality and decomposition in a Mediterranean old-field succession. Plant Soil 296:19–34. 10.1007/s11104-007-9285-6 DOI

Coûteaux M-M, Bottner P, Björn B (1995) Litter decomposition, climate and litter quality. Trends Ecol Evol 10:63–66. 10.1016/S0169-5347(00)88978-8 PubMed DOI

Crutsinger GM, Sanders NJ, Classen AT (2009) Comparing intra- and inter-specific effects on litter decomposition in an old-field ecosystem. Basic Appl Ecol 10:535–543. 10.1016/j.baae.2008.10.011 DOI

De La Riva EG, Prieto I, Villar R (2019) The leaf economic spectrum drives leaf litter decomposition in Mediterranean forests. Plant Soil 435:353–366. 10.1007/s11104-018-3883-3 DOI

Durka W, Michalski SG (2012) Daphne: a dated phylogeny of a large European flora for phylogenetically informed ecological analyses. Ecology 93:2297–2297. 10.1890/12-0743.1 DOI

Fortunel C, Garnier E, Joffre R et al (2009) Leaf traits capture the effects of land use changes and climate on litter decomposability of grasslands across Europe. Ecology 90:598–611. 10.1890/08-0418.1 PubMed DOI

Freschet GT, Cornelissen JHC, van Logtestijn RSP, Aerts R (2010) Substantial nutrient resorption from leaves, stems and roots in a subarctic flora: what is the link with other resource economics traits? New Phytol 186:879–889. 10.1111/j.1469-8137.2010.03228.x PubMed DOI

Guo C, Tuo B, Seibold S et al (2024) Ecology and methodology of comparing traits and decomposition rates of green leaves versus senesced litter across plant species and types. J Ecol 112:1074–1086. 10.1111/1365-2745.14287 DOI

Güsewell S, Gessner MO (2009) N:P ratios influence litter decomposition and colonization by fungi and bacteria in microcosms. Funct Ecol 23:211–219. 10.1111/j.1365-2435.2008.01478.x DOI

Hättenschwiler S, Tiunov AV, Scheu S (2005) Biodiversity and litter decomposition in terrestrial ecosystems. Annu Rev Ecol Evol Syst 36:191–218. 10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.36.112904.151932 DOI

Hawkesford M, Horst W, Kichey T, et al (2012) Functions of Macronutrients. In: Marschner’s Mineral Nutrition of Higher Plants. Elsevier, pp 135–189

Hothorn T, Bretz F, Westfall P (2008) Simultaneous inference in general parametric models. Biom J 50:346–363. 10.1002/bimj.200810425 PubMed DOI

Janíková E, Konečná M, Lisner A et al (2024) Closely related species differ in their traits, but competition induces high intra-specific variability. Ecol Evol 14:e70254. 10.1002/ece3.70254 PubMed DOI PMC

Joly F-X, Scherer-Lorenzen M, Hättenschwiler S (2023) Resolving the intricate role of climate in litter decomposition. Nature Ecol Evol 7:214–223. 10.1038/s41559-022-01948-z PubMed DOI

Jonasson S, Chapin FS (1985) Significance of sequential leaf development for nutrient balance of the cotton sedge, PubMed DOI

Kassambara A, Mundt F (2020) factoextra: extract and visualize the results of multivariate data analyses. R package version 1.0.7, https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=factoextra

Kassambara A (2020) ggpubr: 'ggplot2' Based Publication Ready Plots. R package version 0.4.0. https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=ggpubr

Kazakou E, Vile D, Shipley B et al (2006) Co-variations in litter decomposition, leaf traits and plant growth in species from a Mediterranean old-field succession. Funct Ecol 20:21–30. 10.1111/j.1365-2435.2006.01080.x DOI

Kazakou E, Violle C, Roumet C et al (2009) Litter quality and decomposability of species from a Mediterranean succession depend on leaf traits but not on nitrogen supply. Ann Bot 104:1151–1161. 10.1093/aob/mcp202 PubMed DOI PMC

Kuebbing SE, Maynard DS, Bradford MA (2018) Linking functional diversity and ecosystem processes: a framework for using functional diversity metrics to predict the ecosystem impact of functionally unique species. J Ecol 106:687–698. 10.1111/1365-2745.12835 DOI

Lecerf A, Chauvet E (2008) Intraspecific variability in leaf traits strongly affects alder leaf decomposition in a stream. Basic Appl Ecol 9:598–605. 10.1016/j.baae.2007.11.003 DOI

Lenth R (2024) emmeans: Estimated marginal means, aka least-squares means. R package version 1.10.4. https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=emmeans

Liu G, Wang L, Jiang L et al (2018) Specific leaf area predicts dryland litter decomposition via two mechanisms. J Ecol 106:218–229. 10.1111/1365-2745.12868 DOI

Makkonen M, Berg MP, Handa IT et al (2012) Highly consistent effects of plant litter identity and functional traits on decomposition across a latitudinal gradient. Ecol Lett 15:1033–1041. 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2012.01826.x PubMed DOI

Mehlich A (1984) Mehlich 3 soil test extractant: a modification of Mehlich 2 extractant. Commun Soil Sci Plant Anal 15:1409–1416. 10.1080/00103628409367568 DOI

Mori AS, Cornelissen JHC, Fujii S et al (2020) A meta-analysis on decomposition quantifies afterlife effects of plant diversity as a global change driver. Nat Commun 11:4547. 10.1038/s41467-020-18296-w PubMed DOI PMC

Mudrák O, Doležal J, Vítová A, Lepš J (2019) Variation in plant functional traits is best explained by the species identity: Stability of trait-based species ranking across meadow management regimes. Funct Ecol 33:746–755. 10.1111/1365-2435.13287 DOI

Pálková K, Lepš J (2008) Positive relationship between plant palatability and litter decomposition in meadow plants. Community Ecol 9:17–27. 10.1556/ComEc.9.2008.1.3 DOI

Pérez-Harguindeguy N, Díaz S, Garnier E et al (2013) New handbook for standardised measurement of plant functional traits worldwide. Aust J Bot 61:167–234. 10.1071/BT12225_CO DOI

Prieto I, Querejeta JI (2020) Simulated climate change decreases nutrient resorption from senescing leaves. Glob Change Biol 26:1795–1807. 10.1111/gcb.14914 PubMed DOI

R Core Team (2021) R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. https://www.R-project.org/

Rawat M, Arunachalam K, Arunachalam A et al (2020) Predicting litter decomposition rate for temperate forest tree species by the relative contribution of green leaf and litter traits in the Indian Himalayas region. Ecol Ind 119:106827. 10.1016/j.ecolind.2020.106827 DOI

Revelle W (2024) psych: procedures for psychological, psychometric, and personality research. Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois. R package version 2.4.3. https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=psych

Rosenfield MV, Keller JK, Clausen C et al (2020) Leaf traits can be used to predict rates of litter decomposition. Oikos 129:1589–1596. 10.1111/oik.06470 DOI

Sanaullah M, Chabbi A, Lemaire G et al (2010) How does plant leaf senescence of grassland species influence decomposition kinetics and litter compounds dynamics? Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst 88:159–171. 10.1007/s10705-009-9323-2 DOI

Shaver GR, Laundre J (1997) Exsertion, elongation, and senescence of leaves of DOI

Sundqvist MK, Giesler R, Wardle DA (2011) Within- and across-species responses of plant traits and litter decomposition to elevation across contrasting vegetation types in subarctic tundra. PLoS ONE 6:e27056. 10.1371/journal.pone.0027056 PubMed DOI PMC

Swift MJ, Heal OW, Anderson JM, Anderson JM (1979) Decomposition in terrestrial ecosystems. University of California Press

Szefer P, Carmona CP, Chmel K et al (2017) Determinants of litter decomposition rates in a tropical forest: functional traits, phylogeny and ecological succession. Oikos 126:1101–1111. 10.1111/oik.03670 DOI

Taylor B, Parkinson D (1988) A new microcosm approach to litter decomposition studies. Can J Bot 66:1933–1939. 10.1139/b88-265 DOI

Taylor BR, Parkinson D, Parsons WFJ (1989) Nitrogen and lignin content as predictors of litter decay rates: a microcosm test. Ecology 70:97–104. 10.2307/1938416 DOI

Tichý L, Chytrý M (2019) Probabilistic key for identifying vegetation types in the field: a new method and Android application. J Veg Sci 30:1035–1038. 10.1111/jvs.12799 DOI

van den Brink L, Canessa R, Neidhardt H et al (2023) No home-field advantage in litter decomposition from the desert to temperate forest. Funct Ecol 37:1315–1327. 10.1111/1365-2435.14285 DOI

Wardle DA, Bardgett RD, Walker LR, Bonner KI (2009) Among- and within-species variation in plant litter decomposition in contrasting long-term chronosequences. Funct Ecol 23:442–453. 10.1111/j.1365-2435.2008.01513.x DOI

Wickham H (2016) ggplot2: Elegant Graphics for Data Analysis. Springer-Verlag, New York