Slow decomposition and limited nitrogen release by lower order roots in eight Chinese temperate and subtropical trees

Plant and Soil

Volumn 363, Issue 1-2, 2013, Pages 19-31

  Xiong, Yanmei ^a   Fan, Pingping ^b   Fu, Shenglei ^c   Zeng, Hui ^a   Guo, Dali ^d,e  

^a PEKING UNIVERSITY   (China)

^b QILU UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY   (China)

^c SOUTH CHINA INSTITUTE OF BOTANY   (China)

^d INSTITUTE OF GEOGRAPHIC SCIENCES AND NATURAL RESOURCES RESEARCH   (China)

^e NONE   (China)

Author keywords

Carbon fraction; Carbon quality; Litter decay; Litter quality; Root branch order; Root decomposition

Indexed keywords

CONCENTRATION (COMPOSITION); DECOMPOSITION; LEAF LITTER; MORTALITY; NITROGEN; NUTRIENT CYCLING; NUTRIENT UPTAKE; SPECIES DIVERSITY; SUBTROPICAL REGION; TEMPERATE ENVIRONMENT; TREE;

EID: 84872598127     PISSN: 0032079X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1007/s11104-012-1290-8     Document Type: Article

References (43)

1. Aerts R (1997) Climate, leaf litter chemistry and leaf litter decomposition in terrestrial ecosystems: a triangular relationship. Oikos 79: 439-449.
2. Berg B, McClaugherty C (2008) Plant litter-eecomposition, humus formation, carbon sequestration (2nd edition). Springer-Verlag Berlin, Heidelberg, Germany.
3. 15N stabilization dynamics in soil organic matter fractions during needle and fine root decomposition. Org Geochem 39: 465-477.
4. Christenson LM, Lovett GM, Mitchell MJ, Groffman PM (2002) The fate of nitrogen in Gypsy moth frass deposited to an oak forest floor. Oecologia 131: 444-452.
5. Coley PD, Bryant JP, Chapin FS III (1985) Resource availability and plant antiherbivore defense. Science 230: 895-899.
6. Crow SE, Lajtha K, Filley TR, Swanston CW, Bowden RD, Caldwell BA (2009) Sources of plant-derived carbon and stability of organic matter in soil: implications for global change. Global Change Biol 15: 2003-2019.
7. Davidson EA, Janssens IA (2006) Temperature sensitivity of soil carbon decomposition and feedbacks to climate change. Nature 440: 165-173.
8. Dornbush ME, Isenhart TM, Raich JW (2002) Quantifying fine-root decomposition: an alternative to buried litterbags. Ecology 83: 2985-2990.
9. Fan P, Guo D (2010) Slow decomposition of lower order roots: a key mechanism of root carbon and nutrient retention in the soil. Oecologia 163: 509-515.
10. Fernandez CW, Koide RT (2012) The role of chitin in the decomposition of ectomycorrhizal fungal litter. Ecology 93: 24-28.
11. Gessner MO, Neumann PTM (2005) Total lipids. In: Graca MAS, Bärlocher F, Gessner MO (eds) Methods to study litter decomposition: a practical guide. Springer, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, pp 91-95.
12. Gholz HL, Wedin DA, Smitherman SM, Harmon ME, Parton WJ (2000) Long-term dynamics of pine and hardwood litter in contrasting environments: toward a global model of decomposition. Global Change Biol 6: 751-765.
13. Goebel M, Hobbie SE, Bulaj B, Zadworny M, Archibald DD, Oleksyn J, Reich PB, Eissenstat DM (2011) Decomposition of the finest root branching orders: linking belowground dynamics to fine-root function and structure. Ecol Monog 81: 89-102.
14. Gonzalez G, Seastedt TR (2001) Soil fauna and plant litter decomposition in tropical and subalpine forests. Ecology 82: 955-964.
15. Guo DL, Mitchell RJ, Hendricks JJ (2004) Fine root branch orders respond differentially to carbon source-sink manipulations in a longleaf pine forest. Oecologia 140: 450-457.
16. Guo DL, Xia M, Wei X, Chang W, Shi W, Wang Z (2008a) Anatomical traits associated with absorption and mycorrhizal colonization are linked to root branch order in twenty-three Chinese temperate tree species. New Phytol 180: 673-683.
17. Guo DL, Mitchell RJ, Withington JM, Fan PP, Hendricks JJ (2008b) Endogenous and exogenous controls of root life span, mortality and nitrogen flux in a longleaf pine forest: root branch order predominates. J Ecol 96: 737-745.
18. Hättenschwiler S, Bracht Jørgensen H (2010) Carbon quality rather than stoichiometry controls litter decomposition in a tropical rain forest. J Ecol 98: 754-763.
19. Hendricks JJ, Aber JD, NadelhoVer KJ, Hallett RD (2000) Nitrogen controls on fine root substrate quality in temperate forest ecosystems. Ecosystems 3: 57-69.
20. Jackson RB, Mooney HA, Schulze E-D (1997) A global budget for fine root biomass, surface area, and nutrient contents. PNAS 94: 7362-7366.
21. Kätterer T, Anders Bolinder M, Andren O, Kirchmann H, Menichetti L (2011) Roots contribute more to refractory soil organic matter than above-ground crop residues, as revealed by a long-term field experiment. Agric Ecosyst Environ 141: 184-192.
22. Klopatek JM (2007) Litterfall and fine root biomass contribution to nutrient dynamics in second- and old-growth Douglas-fir ecosystems. Plant Soil 294: 157-167.
23. Langley JA, Chapman SK, Hungate BA (2006) Ectomycorrhizal colonization slows root decomposition: the post-mortem fungal legacy. Ecol Lett 9: 955-959.
24. Li Z, Peng S, Rae DJ, Zhou G (2001) Litter decomposition and nitrogen mineralization of soils in subtropical plantation forests of southern China, with special attention to comparisons between legumes and non-legumes. Plant Soil 229: 105-116.
25. Lindahl BD, Ihrmark K, Boberg J, Trumbore SE, Högberg P, Stenlid J, Finlay RD (2007) Spatial separation of litter decomposition and mycorrhizal nitrogen uptake in a boreal forest. New Phytol 173: 611-620.
26. Liu ZG, Zou XM (2002) Exotic earthworms accelerate plant litter decomposition in a Puerto Rican pasture and a wet forest. Ecol Appl 12: 1406-1417.
27. Mambelli S, Bird JA, Gleixner G, Dawson TE, Torn MS (2011) Relative contribution of foliar and fine root pine litter to the molecular composition of soil organic matter after in situ degradation. Org Geochem 42: 1099-1108.
28. Manzoni S, Jackson RB, Trofymow JA, Porporato A (2008) The global stoichiometry of litter nitrogen mineralization. Science 321: 684-686.
29. Parton W, Silver WL, Burke IC, Grassens L, Harmon ME, Currie WS, King JY, Adair EC, Brandt LA, Hart SC, Fasth B (2007) Global-scale similarities in nitrogen release patterns during long-term decomposition. Science 315: 361-364.
30. Pregitzer KS, DeForest JL, Burton AJ, Allen MF, Ruess RW, Hendrick RL (2002) Fine root architecture of nine North American trees. Ecol Monog 72: 293-309.
31. Prescott CE (2010) Litter decomposition: what controls it and how can we alter it to sequester more carbon in forest soils? Biogeochemistry 101: 133-149.
32. Rasse DP, Rumpel C, Dignac MF (2005) Is soil carbon mostly root carbon? Mechanisms for a specific stabilization. Plant Soil 269: 341-356.
33. Ryan MG, Melillo JM, Ricca A (1990) A comparison of methods for determining proximate carbon fractions of forest litter. Can J For Res 20: 166-171.
34. Seastedt TR, Murray PJ (2008) Root herbivory in grassland ecosystems. In: Johnson SN, Murray PJ (eds) Root feeders: an ecosystem perspective. Cromwell Press, Trowbridge, pp 54-67.
35. Silver WL, Miya RK (2001) Global patterns in root decomposition: comparisons of climate and litter quality effects. Oecologia 129: 407-419.
36. Talbot JM, Treseder KK (2012) Interactions between lignin, cellouse, and nitrogen drive litter chemistry-decay relationships. Ecology (in press) doi: http://dx. doi. org/10. 1890/11-0843. 1.
37. Taylor BR, Parkinson D, Parsons WFJ (1989) Nitrogen and lignin content as predictors of litter decay-rates-a microcosm test. Ecology 70: 97-104.
38. Valenzuela-Estrada LR, Richards JH, Diaz A, Eissenstat DM (2009) Patterns of nocturnal rehydration in root tissues of Vaccinium corymbosum L. under severe drought conditions. J Exp Bot 60: 1241-1247.
39. Wang H, Liu S, Mo J (2010) Correlation between leaf litter and fine root decomposition among subtropical tree species. Plant Soil 335: 289-298.
40. Wang ZQ, Guo DL, Wang X, Gu J, Mei L (2006) Fine root architecture, morphology, and biomass of different branch orders of two Chinese temperate tree species. Plant Soil 288: 151-171.
41. Wells CE, Eissenstat DM (2001) Marked differences in survivorship among apple roots of different diameters. Ecology 82: 882-889.
42. Xia M, Guo D, Pregitzer KS (2010) Ephemeral root modules in Fraxinus mandshurica. New Phytol 188: 1065-1074.
43. Zhang P, Tian X, He X, Song F, Ren L, Jiang P (2008) Effect of litter quality on its decomposition in broadleaf and coniferous forest. Eur J Soil Biol 44: 392-399.