Abstract
Background and aims
Litter decomposition is essential for the global carbon cycle, which is affected by environmental factors. In the context of global warming and increasing nitrogen deposition, the responses of litter decomposition are unclear in subtropical forests.
Methods
Here, we carried out an interaction experiment of warming (3.3 °C) and nitrogen addition (50 kg ha−1 yr−1) and a recovery experiment (remove warming and nitrogen addition treatments) in a subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forest for four years in total.
Results
The results showed that during the treatment period, warming, nitrogen addition, and their combination significantly decreased litter decomposition according to the k values by 35.8%, 23.0%, and 42.2%, respectively. However, there was no significant interaction effect between warming and nitrogen addition. Litter decomposition rates quickly returned to the same level during the two-year recovery period. Variance partitioning analysis (VPA) and covariance analysis (ANCOVA) simultaneously confirmed that warming and nitrogen addition significantly affected litter decomposition. VPA and ANCOVA also showed that soil temperature and water content significantly contributed to the decomposition rate during the treatment period.
Conclusions
This study suggests that warming and nitrogen addition significantly inhibit litter decomposition, but this effect is not sustainable.
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Data availability
Data generated or analyzed during this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Qi Luo and Wen-Zheng Yang for their assistance with the field experiment. We thank the Management Authority of the Ailao Mountains National Nature Reserve and Ailaoshan Station for Subtropical Forest Ecosystem Studies for permitting us and facilitating this research. We are also grateful to the anonymous referees for their valuable comments, constructive suggestions, and editorial assistance, which have greatly improved the paper. This study was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Anhui Province (2108085QC101), Natural Science Foundation of Universities of Anhui Province for Distinguished Young Project (2022AH020081), Natural Science Foundation of Universities of Anhui Province (No. KJ2020A0079), and opening Project of Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Environmental Hormone and Reproduction, Fuyang Normal University (No. FSKFKT012).
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Chuansheng Wu performed the material preparation and data collection. Shuai Liu and Chuansheng Wu presented the main idea and performed the data analysis. Yue Li, Simeng Wang, Ying Wang, and Menglong Bu finished the initial draft. Yue Li, Shuai Liu, and Chuansheng Wu modified the whole manuscript. All the authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
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Li, Y., Wang, S., Wang, Y. et al. Climate warming and nitrogen deposition had no significant interaction effect on litter decomposition of subtropical mountain forest in Southwest China. Plant Soil (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-024-06666-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-024-06666-y