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Meta-analysis reveals that vertebrates enhance plant litter decomposition at the global scale.
Tuo, Bin; García-Palacios, Pablo; Guo, Chao; Yan, En-Rong; Berg, Matty P; Cornelissen, Johannes H C.
Afiliación
  • Tuo B; A-LIFE, Systems Ecology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
  • García-Palacios P; Instituto de Ciencias Agrarias (ICA), CSIC, Madrid, Spain.
  • Guo C; Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
  • Yan ER; Forest Zoology, Technische Universität Dresden, Tharandt, Germany. chao.guo@mailbox.tu-dresden.de.
  • Berg MP; Zhejiang Zhoushan Archipelago Observation and Research Station, Tiantong National Forest Ecosystem Observation and Research Station, and Shanghai Key Lab for Urban Ecological Processes and Eco-Restoration, School of Ecological and Environmental Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
  • Cornelissen JHC; Institute of Eco-Chongming (IEC), Shanghai, China.
Nat Ecol Evol ; 8(3): 411-422, 2024 Mar.
Article en En | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38195996
ABSTRACT
Evidence is mounting that vertebrate defaunation greatly impacts global biogeochemical cycling. Yet, there is no comprehensive assessment of the potential vertebrate influence over plant decomposition, despite litter decay being one of the largest global carbon fluxes. We therefore conducted a global meta-analysis to evaluate vertebrate effects on litter mass loss and associated element release across terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Here we show that vertebrates affected litter decomposition by various direct and indirect pathways, increasing litter mass loss by 6.7% on average, and up to 34.4% via physical breakdown. This positive vertebrate impact on litter mass loss was consistent across contrasting litter types (woody and non-woody), climatic regions (boreal, temperate and tropical), ecosystem types (aquatic and terrestrial) and vertebrate taxa, but disappeared when evaluating litter nitrogen and phosphorus release. Moreover, we found evidence of interactive effects between vertebrates and non-vertebrate decomposers on litter mass loss, and a larger influence of vertebrates at mid-to-late decomposition stages, contrasting with the invertebrate effect known to be strongest at early decomposition stage. Our synthesis demonstrates a global vertebrate control over litter mass loss, and further stresses the need to account for vertebrates when assessing the impacts of biodiversity loss on biogeochemical cycles.
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Texto completo: 1 Colección: 01-internacional Base de datos: MEDLINE Asunto principal: Plantas / Ecosistema Tipo de estudio: Systematic_reviews Límite: Animals Idioma: En Revista: Nat Ecol Evol Año: 2024 Tipo del documento: Article País de afiliación: Países Bajos Pais de publicación: Reino Unido
Texto completo
Añadir a Mi BVS
Imprimir
XML
PubMed Links
Buscar en Google

Texto completo: 1 Colección: 01-internacional Base de datos: MEDLINE Asunto principal: Plantas / Ecosistema Tipo de estudio: Systematic_reviews Límite: Animals Idioma: En Revista: Nat Ecol Evol Año: 2024 Tipo del documento: Article País de afiliación: Países Bajos Pais de publicación: Reino Unido