Does the addition of litter from N-fixing Acacia mearnsii accelerate leaf decomposition of Eucalyptus globulus?
W. Xiang A B and J. Bauhus A C DA School of Resources, Environment and Society, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia.
B School of Life Science and Technology, Central South Forestry University, Changsha, Hunan 410004, China.
C Institute of Silviculture, University of Freiburg, Tennenbacherstraße 4, 79106 Freiburg, Germany.
D Corresponding author. Email: juergen.bauhus@waldbau.uni-freiburg.de
Australian Journal of Botany 55(5) 576-583 https://doi.org/10.1071/BT06083
Submitted: 20 February 2006 Accepted: 9 October 2006 Published: 17 August 2007
Abstract
Nutrient cycling in mixed-species plant communities may be enhanced in comparison to what might be expected from the component species. In this study, we investigated (1) whether the admixing of nitrogen-rich litter from Acacia mearnsii can accelerate the decomposition of Eucalyptus globulus leaf litter and (2) whether eucalypt litter originating from mixed stands with acacias decomposes faster than litter from pure eucalypt stands. To address the first question, pure and mixed litter was incubated in the laboratory for 110 days at 25°C in the following proportions: 100%E, 75%E : 25%A, 50%E : 50%A, 25%E : 75%A and 100%A, where %E and %A refers to the proportion of eucalypt and acacia in the microcosms, respectively. Since mass loss and N loss of litter in the 50 : 50 mixture was higher than for pure eucalypt but not higher than for acacia, it appears that acacia litter accelerated decomposition of eucalypt litter but not vice versa. Decomposition rates increased with N concentration in the combined litters up to 1.1% N, above that point it remained constant. To address the second question, eucalypt litter from pure and mixed stands was incubated in microcosms. The loss of mass, N and P after 110 days was not different for eucalypt litter originating from mixed (75E : 25A, 50E : 50A, 25E : 75A) and pure (100E) plantations. Together, these studies suggest that admixture of A. mearnsii to E. globulus has the potential to accelerate decomposition and N cycling, and that the species interactions are most pronounced in the 50 : 50 mixture. Mixing of the two species in plantations has so far had no influence on the decomposability of eucalypt litter.
Acknowledgements
Wenhua Xiang received a scholarship from Chinese Scholarship Council. The authors thank Dr David Forrester who commented on the manuscript and helped with the organisation and conduct of field work. The CSIRO Division of Forestry and Forest Products assisted with chemical analysis of the samples. Two anonymous reviewers made helpful suggestions on the manuscript.
Anderson JM
(1973) The breakdown and decomposition of sweet chestnut (Castanea sative Mill) and beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) leaf litter in two deciduous woodland soil. II. Changes in the carbon, nitrogen and polyphenol content. Oecologia 12, 275–288.
Bargali SS,
Singh SP, Singh RP
(1993) Pattern of weight loss and nutrient release form decomposing leaf litter in an age series of eucalypt plantations. Soil Biology & Biochemistry 25, 1731–1738.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Bauhus J,
Khanna PK, Menden N
(2000) Aboveground and below ground interactions in mixed plantations of Eucalyptus globulus and Acacia mearnsii. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 30, 1886–1894.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Bauhus J,
van Winden AP, Nicotra AB
(2004) Above-ground interactions and productivity in mixed-species plantations of Acacia mearnsii and Eucalyptus globulus. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 34, 686–694.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Berg B, Ekbohm G
(1983) Nitrogen immobilization in decomposing needles at variable carbon: nitrogen ratios. Ecology 64, 63–67.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Berg B, Matzner E
(1997) Effect of N deposition on decomposition of plant litter and soil organic matter in forest systems. Environmental Reviews 5, 1–25.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Binkley D,
Dunkin KA,
DeBell D, Ryan MG
(1992) Production and nutrient cycling in mixed plantations of Eucalyptus and Albizia in Hawaii. Forest Science 38, 393–408.
Blair JM
(1988) Nitrogen, sulphur and phosphorus dynamics in decomposition of deciduous leaf litter in the southern Appalachians. Soil Biology & Biochemistry 20, 693–701.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Blair JM,
Parmelee RW, Beare MH
(1990) Decay rates, nitrogen fluxes and decomposer communities of single- and mixed-species foliar litter. Ecology 71, 1976–1985.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Bocock KL
(1964) Changes in the amounts of dry matter, nitrogen, carbon and energy in decomposing woodland leaf litter in relation to the activities of soil fauna. Journal of Ecology 52, 273–284.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Briones MJI, Ineson P
(1996) Decomposition of eucalyptus leaves in litter mixtures. Soil Biology & Biochemistry 28, 1381–1388.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Chapman K,
Whittaker JB, Heal OW
(1988) Metabolic and faunal activity in litters of three mixtures compared with pure stands. Agriculture Ecosystems & Environment 24, 33–40.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Dix NJ
(1979) Inhibition of fungi by gallic acid in relation to growth on leaves and litter. Transactions of the British Mycological Society 73, 329–336.
Flanagan PW, Van Cleve K
(1983) Nutrient cycling in relation to decomposition and organic matter quality in taiga ecosystem. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 13, 795–817.
Forrester DI,
Bauhus J, Cowie AL
(2005a) On the success and failure of mixed-species tree plantations: lessons learned from a model system of Eucalyptus globulus and Acacia mearnsii. Forest Ecology and Management 209, 147–155.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Forrester DI,
Bauhus J, Cowie AL
(2005b) Nutrient cycling in a mixed-species plantation of Eucalyptus globulus and Acacia mearnsii. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 35, 2942–2950.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Fogel R, Cromack K, Jr
(1977) Effect of habitat and substrate quality on Douglas-fir litter decomposition in western Oregon. Canadian Journal of Botany 55, 1632–1640.
Gartner TB, Cardon ZG
(2004) Decomposition dynamics in mixed-species leaf litter. Oikos 104, 230–246.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Gartner TB, Cardon ZG
(2006) Site of leaf origin affects how mixed litter decomposes. Soil Biology & Biochemistry 38, 2307–2317.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Guo LB, Sims REH
(1999) Litter decomposition and nutrient release via litter decomposition in New Zealand eucalyptus short rotation forests. Agriculture Ecosystems & Environment 75, 133–140.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Herman WA,
McGill WB, Dormaar JF
(1977) Effects of initial chemical composition on decomposition of roots of three grass species. Canadian Journal of Soil Science 57, 202–215.
Hoorens B,
Aerts R, Stroetenga M
(2003) Does initial litter chemistry explain litter mixture effects on decomposition? Oecologia 137, 578–586.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed |
Khanna PK
(1997) Comparison of growth and nutrition of young monocultures and mixed stands of Eucalyptus globulus and Acacia mearnsii. Forest Ecology and Management 94, 105–113.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
McClaugherty C,
Pastor J, Aber JD
(1985) Forest litter decomposition in relation to soil nitrogen dynamics and litter quality. Ecology 66, 266–275.
| Crossref |
Meentemeyer V
(1978) Macroclimate and lignin control of litter decomposition rates. Ecology 59, 465–472.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Melillo JM,
Aber JD, Muratore JF
(1982) Nitrogen and lignin control of hardwood leaf litter decomposition dynamics. Ecology 63, 621–626.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Melin E
(1930) Biological composition of some types of litter from North American forests. Ecology 11, 72–101.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Moorhead DL,
Sinsabaugh RL,
Linkins AE, Reynolds JF
(1996) Decomposition processes: modelling approaches and applications. The Science of the Total Environment 183, 137–149.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Olson JS
(1963) Energy storage and the balance of producers and decomposers in ecological systems. Ecology 44, 322–331.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Prescott CE
(2005) Do rates of litter decomposition tell us anything we really need to know? Forest Ecology and Management 220, 66–74.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Regina IS
(2001) Litter fall decomposition and nutrient release in three semi-arid forests of the Duero Basin, Spain. Forestry 74, 347–358.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Rothe A, Binkley D
(2001) Nutritional interactions in mixed species forests: a synthesis. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 31, 1855–1870.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Salamanca EF,
Kaneko N, Katagiri S
(1998) Effects of leaf litter mixtures on the decomposition of Quercus and Pinus densiflora using field and laboratory microcosm methods. Ecological Engineering 10, 53–73.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Schlesinger WH, Hasey MM
(1981) Decomposition of chaparral shrub foliage: losses of organic and inorganic constituents from deciduous and evergreen leaves. Ecology 62, 762–774.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Seastedt TR
(1984) The role of microarthropods in decomposition and mineralization process. Annual Review of Entomology 29, 25–46.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Staaf H, Berg B
(1982) Accumulation and release of plant nutrients in decomposing Scots pine needle litter. Long-term decomposition in a Scots pine forest. II. Canadian Journal of Botany 60, 1561–1568.
Taylor BR,
Parkinson D, Parsons WFJ
(1989) Nitrogen and lignin content as predictors of litter decay rates, a microcosm test. Ecology 70, 97–104.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Waksman SA, Tenney FG
(1927) The composition of natural organic material and their decomposition in soil. II. Influence of age of plant upon the rapidity and nature of its decomposition—rye plants. Soil Science 24, 317–334.
