| Title |
Root chemistry and soil fauna, but not soil abiotic conditions explain the effects of plant diversity on root decomposition
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
Oecologia, September 2017
|
| DOI | 10.1007/s00442-017-3962-9 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Hongmei Chen, Natalie J. Oram, Kathryn E. Barry, Liesje Mommer, Jasper van Ruijven, Hans de Kroon, Anne Ebeling, Nico Eisenhauer, Christine Fischer, Gerd Gleixner, Arthur Gessler, Odette González Macé, Nina Hacker, Anke Hildebrandt, Markus Lange, Michael Scherer-Lorenzen, Stefan Scheu, Yvonne Oelmann, Cameron Wagg, Wolfgang Wilcke, Christian Wirth, Alexandra Weigelt |
| Abstract |
Plant diversity influences many ecosystem functions including root decomposition. However, due to the presence of multiple pathways via which plant diversity may affect root decomposition, our mechanistic understanding of their relationships is limited. In a grassland biodiversity experiment, we simultaneously assessed the effects of three pathways-root litter quality, soil biota, and soil abiotic conditions-on the relationships between plant diversity (in terms of species richness and the presence/absence of grasses and legumes) and root decomposition using structural equation modeling. Our final structural equation model explained 70% of the variation in root mass loss. However, different measures of plant diversity included in our model operated via different pathways to alter root mass loss. Plant species richness had a negative effect on root mass loss. This was partially due to increased Oribatida abundance, but was weakened by enhanced root potassium (K) concentration in more diverse mixtures. Equally, grass presence negatively affected root mass loss. This effect of grasses was mostly mediated via increased root lignin concentration and supported via increased Oribatida abundance and decreased root K concentration. In contrast, legume presence showed a net positive effect on root mass loss via decreased root lignin concentration and increased root magnesium concentration, both of which led to enhanced root mass loss. Overall, the different measures of plant diversity had contrasting effects on root decomposition. Furthermore, we found that root chemistry and soil biota but not root morphology or soil abiotic conditions mediated these effects of plant diversity on root decomposition. |
X Demographics
The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 3 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Germany | 1 | 33% |
| United Kingdom | 1 | 33% |
| Unknown | 1 | 33% |
Demographic breakdown
| Type | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Members of the public | 3 | 100% |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 97 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Unknown | 97 | 100% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 22 | 23% |
| Researcher | 14 | 14% |
| Student > Master | 10 | 10% |
| Student > Doctoral Student | 10 | 10% |
| Professor | 7 | 7% |
| Other | 13 | 13% |
| Unknown | 21 | 22% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 39 | 40% |
| Environmental Science | 19 | 20% |
| Earth and Planetary Sciences | 3 | 3% |
| Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology | 2 | 2% |
| Arts and Humanities | 1 | 1% |
| Other | 0 | 0% |
| Unknown | 33 | 34% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 2. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 13 September 2018.
All research outputs
#14,081,725
of 23,002,898 outputs
Outputs from Oecologia
#3,038
of 4,236 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#170,167
of 318,242 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Oecologia
#41
of 61 outputs
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