The DOI matches its Crossref record; 106 of the 106 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Leaf traits and decomposition in tropical rainforests: revisiting some commonly held views and towards a new hypothesis
Abstract
Summary: Proper estimates of decomposition are essential for tropical forests, given their key role in the global carbon (C) cycle. However, the current paradigm for litter decomposition is insufficient to account for recent observations and may limit model predictions for highly diverse tropical ecosystems. In light of recent findings from a nutrient‐poor Amazonian rainforest, we revisit the commonly held views that: litter traits are a mere legacy of live leaf traits; nitrogen (N) and lignin are the key litter traits controlling decomposition; and favourable climatic conditions result in rapid decomposition in tropical forests. Substantial interspecific variation in litter phosphorus (P) was found to be unrelated to variation in green leaves. Litter nutrients explained no variation in decomposition, which instead was controlled primarily by nonlignin litter C compounds at low concentrations with important soil fauna effects. Despite near‐optimal climatic conditions, tropical litter decomposition proceeded more slowly than in a climatically less favourable temperate forest. We suggest that slow decomposition in the studied rainforest results from a syndrome of poor litter C quality beyond a simple lignin control, enforcing energy starvation of decomposers. We hypothesize that the litter trait syndrome in nutrient‐poor tropical rainforests may have evolved to increase plant access to limiting nutrients via mycorrhizal associations.
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Cites
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Cited by
Makkonen, M., Berg, M. P., Handa, I. T., Hättenschwiler, S., van Ruijven, J., van Bodegom, P. M., & Aerts, R. (2012) · Ecology Letters · doi:10.1111/j.1461-0248.2012.01826.x · Cited by 502
Self-citationNutrient limitation of soil microbial processes in tropical forests
Camenzind, T., Hättenschwiler, S., Treseder, K. K., Lehmann, A., & Rillig, M. C. (2018) · Ecological Monographs · doi:10.1002/ecm.1279 · Cited by 454
Self-citationBonanomi, G., Lorito, M., Vinale, F., & Woo, S. L. (2018) · Annual Review of Phytopathology · doi:10.1146/annurev-phyto-080615-100046 · Cited by 328
Austin, A. T., Vivanco, L., González‐Arzac, A., & Pérez, L. I. (2014) · New Phytologist · doi:10.1111/nph.12959 · Cited by 298
Coordinated resource allocation to plant growth–defense tradeoffs
Monson, R. K., Trowbridge, A. M., Lindroth, R. L., & Lerdau, M. T. (2022) · New Phytologist · doi:10.1111/nph.17773 · Cited by 283
Metadata
- Authors
- Hättenschwiler, S., Coq, S., Barantal, S., & Handa, I. T.
- Venue
- New Phytologist
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2010-10-06
- Volume
- 189
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 950-965
- ISSN
- 0028-646X (ISSN-L)
- 1469-8137
- OpenAlex
- W2034467963
- Cited by
- 291
- References
- 106
- FWCI
- 22.38
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
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- Hättenschwiler, S., Coq, S., Barantal, S., & Handa, I. T. (2011). Leaf traits and decomposition in tropical rainforests: revisiting some commonly held views and towards a new hypothesis. New Phytologist. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8137.2010.03483.x
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Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).
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