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Forests
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The Relationship between Tree Litter Decomposition and Global Change
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The Relationship between Tree Litter Decomposition and Global Change

A special issue of Forests (ISSN 1999-4907). This special issue belongs to the section "Forest Ecophysiology and Biology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2024) | Viewed by 4732

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Shaojun Wang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Ecology and Environment, Southwest Forestry University, 300 Bailongsi, Kunming 650224, China
Interests: global change; greenhouse gas emissions; litter decomposition; soil fauna
Dr. Wei Huang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Coastal Basin Environment, Fujian Polytechnic Normal University, Fuqing 350300, China
Interests: earthworm; litter decomposition; microarthropods; nutrient; soil fauna
Dr. Grizelle González

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, International Institute of Tropical Forestry, Jardín Botánico Sur, 1201 Ceiba St., Río Piedras, San Juan, PR 00926, USA
Interests: tropical soil ecology; biology and biogeochemistry; disturbance effects; wood and litter decay; role of soil organisms in ecosystem processes and functions
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Tree litter decomposition is an important biochemical process that has close linkages with nutrient circulation, carbon source-sink balance, soil fertility, plant growth and community succession, as well as the productivity of ecosystems. Decomposition of litter can be driven by a series of complex internal and external factors, such as climate change, nitrogen deposition, fire disturbance, human management, substrate, soil organisms, and edaphic physicochemical properties. Hence, it may be pivotal to identify how the processes of litter decomposition and nutrient release can be regulated by these biotic and abiotic factors.

This Special Issue aims to collate state-of-the-art research on how tree litter decomposition may be regulated, particularly in the scenarios of increasing global change. Papers on the aforementioned topics are invited so that an empirical or theoretical understanding of tree litter decomposition is advanced.

Prospective topics may include, but are not limited to the following:

  • Carbon dioxide emission and regulation;
  • Climate change effect;
  • Nitrogen deposition effect;
  • Prescribed burning effect;
  • Faunal  mechanisms;
  • Microbial mechanisms;
  • Role of biotic interactions.

Prof. Dr. Shaojun Wang
Dr. Wei Huang
Dr. Grizelle González
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Forests is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • climate change
  • decomposition
  • fauna
  • leaf litter
  • microarthropods
  • microbes
  • nutrient
  • root litter

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

20 pages, 4061 KiB  
Article
Insect Herbivores, Plant Sex, and Elevated Nitrogen Influence Willow Litter Decomposition and Detritivore Colonization in Early Successional Streams
by Carri J. LeRoy, Sabrina J. Heitmann, Madeline A. Thompson, Iris J. Garthwaite, Angie M. Froedin-Morgensen, Sorrel Hartford, Brandy K. Kamakawiwo’ole, Lauren J. Thompson, Joy M. Ramstack Hobbs, Shannon M. Claeson, Rebecca C. Evans, John G. Bishop and Posy E. Busby
Forests 2024, 15(8), 1282; https://doi.org/10.3390/f15081282 - 23 Jul 2024
Viewed by 623
Abstract
Headwater streams are reliant on riparian tree leaf litterfall to fuel brown food webs. Terrestrial agents like herbivores and contaminants can alter plant growth, litter production, litter quality, and the timing of litterfall into streams, influencing aspects of the brown food web. At [...] Read more.
Headwater streams are reliant on riparian tree leaf litterfall to fuel brown food webs. Terrestrial agents like herbivores and contaminants can alter plant growth, litter production, litter quality, and the timing of litterfall into streams, influencing aspects of the brown food web. At Mount St. Helens (USA), early successional streams are developing willow (Salix sitchensis) riparian zones. The willows are attacked by stem-boring herbivores, altering litter quality and the timing of litterfall. Within a established experimental plots, willows (male and female plants) were protected from herbivores using insecticides and provided with experimental additions of nitrogen. This enabled us to test the interacting influences of herbivores, nitrogen deposition, and willow sex on leaf litter quality, aquatic litter decomposition, and microbial and invertebrate detritivores. We found weak litter quality effects (higher N and lower C:N) for the herbivore treatment, but no effect of nitrogen deposition. Although litter decomposition rates were not strongly affected by litter treatments, detritivore communities were altered by all treatments. Nitrogen deposition resulted in decreased bacterial richness and decreased fungal diversity in-stream. Aquatic macroinvertebrate communities were influenced by the interacting effects of herbivory and nitrogen addition, with abundances highest in herbivore litter with the greatest N addition. Shredders showed the highest abundance in male, herbivore-attacked litter. The establishment of riparian willows along early successional streams and their interacting effects with herbivores and nitrogen deposition may be influencing detritivore community assembly at Mount St. Helens. More broadly, global changes like increased wet and dry N deposition and expanded ranges of key herbivores might influence tree litter decomposition in many ecosystems. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Relationship between Tree Litter Decomposition and Global Change)
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16 pages, 2223 KiB  
Article
Nitrogen Deposition Modulates Litter Decomposition and Enhances Water Retention in Subtropical Forests
by Jinmei Xing, Chun Hu, Chenggong Song, Keqin Wang and Yali Song
Forests 2024, 15(3), 522; https://doi.org/10.3390/f15030522 - 12 Mar 2024
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1009
Abstract
Nitrogen (N) deposition influences litter decomposition and its water-holding capacity in forest ecosystems. Water conservation remains a priority, so understanding these interactions is vital for managing forests, especially in the Yunnan Plateau region. This study aimed to investigate the effects of simulated N [...] Read more.
Nitrogen (N) deposition influences litter decomposition and its water-holding capacity in forest ecosystems. Water conservation remains a priority, so understanding these interactions is vital for managing forests, especially in the Yunnan Plateau region. This study aimed to investigate the effects of simulated N deposition on litter decomposition and water-holding capacity in the Evergreen broad-leaf and Quercus aquifolioides forest in the central Yunnan Plateau. Indoor flooding experiments were performed alongside varied nitrogen deposition treatments. Litter decomposition rates under these treatments were evaluated using the Olson model. In the decomposition study, the N treatments in the Evergreen broad-leaved forest increased the remaining mass by 4.75%–17.50% and 2.09%–16.36% compared with the control (20.97 ± 0.44% and 42.43 ± 0.47%), while in the Quercus aquifolioides forest, the remaining mass of leaves and twigs decreased by 5.00% and 0.70% in the LN treatment compared with the control (35.47 ± 0.39% and 44.10 ± 1.18%) and the MN and HN treatments increased by 2.55%–8.13% and 5.61%–11.28%, respectively. Effects of increased N deposition on litter decomposition changed from promoting to inhibiting, as low N sped up decomposition but higher levels inhibited it. Additionally, N boosted the water-holding capacity of litter, especially in leaves. The litter from both forests displayed a notable ability to absorb water. Nitrogen deposition modulates litter decomposition and water retention properties. Specifically, high nitrogen deposition increases litter water-holding capacity by inhibiting the rate of litter decomposition, which in turn alters its mass remaining rate, lignin, and cellulose remaining rates. Efficient management of the studied forests leveraging nitrogen deposition can boost their water conservation potential, aiding in atmospheric precipitation absorption and surface runoff regulation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Relationship between Tree Litter Decomposition and Global Change)
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19 pages, 2717 KiB  
Article
Decomposition and Carbon and Nitrogen Releases of Twig and Leaf Litter Were Inhibited by Increased Level of Nitrogen Deposition in a Subtropical Evergreen Broad-Leaved Forest in Southwest China
by Yali Song, Jinmei Xing, Chun Hu, Chenggong Song, Qian Wang and Shaojun Wang
Forests 2024, 15(3), 492; https://doi.org/10.3390/f15030492 - 6 Mar 2024
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 918
Abstract
Atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition has rapidly increased due to anthropogenic activities, which can exert a crucial effect on biochemical cycling process such as litter decomposition in the subtropical forests. However, the is still uncertainty about the knowledge of N deposition in regulating nutrient [...] Read more.
Atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition has rapidly increased due to anthropogenic activities, which can exert a crucial effect on biochemical cycling process such as litter decomposition in the subtropical forests. However, the is still uncertainty about the knowledge of N deposition in regulating nutrient release from the leaf and twig litter. For this study, a 2 yr litterbag decomposition experiment was conducted under three levels of N addition treatments in a subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forest, in southwest China. This study aimed to identify the effects of low (LN: 10 g·N·m−2·y−1), medium (MN: 20 g·N·m−2·y−1), and high N addition (HN: 25 g·N·m−2·y−1) on litter decomposition and nutrient release from leaves and twigs. We observed that there was significantly lower litter decomposition (8.13%–13.86%) and nutrient release (7.24%–36.08%) in the HN treatment compared to the LN treatment. The decay of mass, lignin, and cellulose and the nutrient release were faster in leaf litter than in twig litter after N addition (p < 0.05). The ratios of C/phosphorus (P), C/N, and N/P were also significantly greater in twig litter than in leaf litter. Furthermore, the N addition treatments resulted in higher contents of the mass, lignin, and cellulgapose remaining in leaf and twig litter compared to the control (CK). The amount of C, N, and P remaining in leaf (51.4%–59.1%) and twig (44.1%–64.8%) debris was significantly higher in the N treatment compared to CK treatment (p < 0.05). In addition, the litter C/N and C/P were smaller and the litter N/P was larger for each N treatment compared to CK (p < 0.05). The results suggest that N inputs restrain lignin and cellulose degradation and C and N release, and increase the N/P ratio that limits P release in litter. These effects vary with the level of N treatments. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Relationship between Tree Litter Decomposition and Global Change)
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18 pages, 3467 KiB  
Article
Emerging Microplastics Alter the Influences of Soil Animals on the Fungal Community Structure in Determining the Litter Decomposition of a Deciduous Tree
by Xin Wang, Rumeng Ye, Bai-Lian Li and Kai Tian
Forests 2024, 15(3), 488; https://doi.org/10.3390/f15030488 - 6 Mar 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1567
Abstract
Microplastics enter forest ecosystems in a variety of ways, including through atmospheric deposition, anthropogenic waste, and leaching. There is growing evidence of the ecotoxicity of microplastics to soil decomposers. Soil animals and microorganisms are the main decomposers of plant litter, and their interactions [...] Read more.
Microplastics enter forest ecosystems in a variety of ways, including through atmospheric deposition, anthropogenic waste, and leaching. There is growing evidence of the ecotoxicity of microplastics to soil decomposers. Soil animals and microorganisms are the main decomposers of plant litter, and their interactions play important roles in determining the terrestrial biochemical cycle. However, how emerging microplastics in forests affect the influence of soil animals on the fungal community in decomposed litter is still unclear. Here, by constructing a rigorous mesocosm experiment, we investigated soil enzyme activities and the variation in fungal community characteristics in the leaf litter of a deciduous tree, Lindera glauca, which was decomposed by contrasting decomposer structures (with or without soil animals) under different contamination conditions (with or without microplastic contamination), aiming to determine the impacts of these factors on litter decomposition. We found that soil animals can significantly depress the litter decomposition rate by reducing fungal diversity and largely changing the community structure in the litter. However, these critical changes caused by soil animals were inhibited in the mesocosms contaminated with high-density polyethylene microplastics (HDPE−MPs), during which soil animal activities were significantly reduced. These findings represent a step forward in illustrating the potential effect of emerging contamination stress on forest litter decomposition and biogeochemical cycles under global environmental change. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Relationship between Tree Litter Decomposition and Global Change)
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