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A 5-and a-half-year-experiment shows precipitation thresholds in litter decomposition and nutrient dynamics in arid and semi-arid regions

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Abstract

Precipitation is a key driver of litter decomposition in arid/semiarid regions; where soils are poor in organic matter, and thus re-incorporation of litter is key for soil nutrient accumulation and soil structure. It remains unclear, though, whether litter decomposition responds symmetrically to precipitation variation (e.g., if precipitation surpluses produce a stimulatory effect of a similar magnitude, but opposite direction to inhibitory effects of precipitation deficits), and whether litter decomposition and litter nutrient dynamics in arid and semiarid ecosystems that differ in climate show similar responses to precipitation. We set up a 5-and-a-half-year experiment that manipulated rainfall along a gradient (7 treatments): increases by 20%, 40%, and 60%, background precipitation, and reductions by the same 3 percentages. We applied such experiment in two sites with different pattens of precipitation (Urat: arid; and Naiman: semiarid) in Inner Mongolia to elucidate our questions. Litter mass loss and all nutrients that we measured (carbon, nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, plus lignin) decomposed faster at the highest level of surplus precipitation, and more slowly in the two largest precipitation reductions. This indicates that these levels of precipitation constitute thresholds (value of precipitation beyond which ecosystem function is critically altered). Litter decomposition in the semiarid site was faster and more complete, but decomposition in the direr Urat was more efficient per unit cumulative rainfall. Thus, site specific effects played an important role in decomposition. Reductions in precipitation decreased the loss of C, N, P, K, and lignin from litter; and clear precipitation thresholds in the dynamic of these nutrients in litter were observed. Overall, this indicated the importance of precipitation limitation at controlling nutrient release. Our study highlights the importance of long-term studies on litter decomposition in environments with slow decomposition rates, and the importance of taking into account mechanistic effects of water availability on decomposition.

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Acknowledgements

We thank all the members of Urat Desert-grassland Research Station and Naiman Desertification Research Station, Chinese Academy of Sciences, for their contributions in laboratory and field work. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (42377473, 41877540). We are also thankful for the comments of the anonymous Reviewers that helped us to improve the manuscript.

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Author notes

  1. Hao Qu and Eduardo Medina-Roldán are co-first authors and contributed equally to the study.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Urat Desert-grassland Research Station, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, 730000, Gansu, China

    Hao Qu, Shaokun Wang, Xujun Ma, Xia Tang & Liangxu Liu

  2. Key Laboratory of Stress Physiology and Ecology in Cold and Arid Regions, Lanzhou, 730000, Gansu Province, China

    Hao Qu, Shaokun Wang, Xujun Ma & Liangxu Liu

  3. Naiman Desertification Research Station, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, 730000, Gansu, China

    Hao Qu

  4. Institute of BioEconomy – National Research Council (IBE-CNR), 50019, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy

    Eduardo Medina-Roldán

  5. Gansu Monitoring Center for Ecological Resources, Lanzhou, 730020, China

    Xinyuan Wang & Xia Tang

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  1. Hao Qu
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Correspondence to Eduardo Medina-Roldán.

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Qu, H., Medina-Roldán, E., Wang, S. et al. A 5-and a-half-year-experiment shows precipitation thresholds in litter decomposition and nutrient dynamics in arid and semi-arid regions. Biol Fertil Soils 60, 199–212 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-023-01779-5

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