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Effects of litter quality and climate change along an elevational gradient on litter decomposition of subalpine forests, Eastern Tibetan Plateau, China

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Abstract

Temperature and freeze-thaw events are two key factors controlling litter decomposition in cold biomes. Predicted global warming and changes in freeze-thaw cycles therefore may directly or indirectly impact litter decomposition in those ecosystems. Here, we conducted a 2-year-long litter decomposition experiment along an elevational gradient from 3000 to 3600 m to determine the potential effects of litter quality, climate warming and freeze-thaw on the mass losses of three litter types [dragon spruce (Picea asperata Mast.), red birch (Betula albosinensis Burk.), and minjiang fir (Abies faxoniana Rehd. et Wild)]. Marked differences in mass loss were observed among the litter types and sampling dates. Decay constant (k) values of red birch were significantly higher than those of the needle litters. However, mass losses between elevations did not differ significantly for any litter type. During the winter, lost mass contributed 18.3–28.8 % of the net loss rates of the first year. Statistical analysis showed that the relationships between mass loss and litter chemistry or their ratios varied with decomposition periods. Our results indicated that short-term field incubations could overestimate the k value of litter decomposition. Considerable mass was lost from subalpine forest litters during the wintertime. Potential future warming may not affect the litter decomposition in the subalpine forest ecosystems of eastern Tibetan Plateau.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Ecological Forestry Engineering of Sichuan Province, Institute of Ecology & Forest, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, 611130, China

    Zhenfeng Xu, Fuzhong Wu, Yang Liu, Bo Tan & Wanqin Yang

  2. Long-term Research Station of Alpine Forest Ecosystems and Monitoring Station for Eco-environments in the Rainy Zone of SW China, Chengdu, China

    Zhenfeng Xu, Fuzhong Wu, Yang Liu, Bo Tan & Wanqin Yang

  3. Department of Ecology, College of Environmental Sciences, Key Laboratory for Earth Surface of Ministry of Education, Peking University, Beijing, 10087, China

    Jianxiao Zhu

Authors
  1. Zhenfeng Xu
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  2. Jianxiao Zhu
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  3. Fuzhong Wu
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  4. Yang Liu
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  5. Bo Tan
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  6. Wanqin Yang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Wanqin Yang.

Additional information

Project funding: This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31570445, 31570601, 31500509 and 31570605), Postdoctoral Science Foundation of China (2013M540714 and 2014T70880) and Collaborative Innovation Center of Ecological Security in the Upper Reaches of Yangze River.

The online version is available at http://www.springerlink.com

Corresponding editor: Hu Yanbo

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Xu, Z., Zhu, J., Wu, F. et al. Effects of litter quality and climate change along an elevational gradient on litter decomposition of subalpine forests, Eastern Tibetan Plateau, China. J. For. Res. 27, 505–511 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11676-015-0180-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11676-015-0180-3

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