How human-induced transitions from forest to treeless ecosystems affect li􀄴er decomposition

PÉREZ HARGUINDEGUY N.; CINGOLANI A. M.; ENRICO L.; VAIERETTI V.M.; GIORGIS M. A.; MORENO M. L.; FALCZUK V.; GURVICH D. E.; BERTONE G. A.; DÍAZ S.; CABIDO M. R.

Ecología Austral

Asociación Argentina de Ecología

Año: 2022

1667-7838

transitions) is an ongoing process in many regions of the world. Here we first revise the historical contextof these transformations and then, we focus on its consequences for li􀄴er decomposition. We also present acase study, based on four ecosystems of central Argentina (Sub-Andean, Mountain Chaco, Espinal and AridChaco), evaluating how deforestation transitions can modify ecosystem decomposition by altering its maincontrols. Although there is evidence of consequences of deforestation transitions on the local environment fordecomposition and on leaf li􀄴er quality it is not clear how those changes would impact the decompositionof natural mixed li􀄴er in the field. In our study case, we show that the deforestation transitions evaluatedacross four ecosystems resulted in no consistent changes in standard substrate decomposition but a consistentincrease in the li􀄴er mixtures? decomposability and quality. Likely as a consequence of this pa􀄴ern, the lossof trees resulted in a consistent increase in the in situ mixtures decomposition across the ecosystems studied.Beyond our particular findings, our analysis highlights how the accurate prediction of the consequences ofdeforestation transition on changes in carbon and nutrient cycling needs to understand the behaviour ofits controls. Only through this understanding, we will be able to interpret the pa􀄴erns of in situ mixturesdecomposition and predict the consequences of deforestation transitions adequately on carbon (C) and nutrientcycling. Additionally, the recent literature, in coincidence with our results, gives evidence that the presenceof non-leafy plant debris and local-scale variation in the local environment may play a stronger role thanpreviously thought in C and nutrient cycling.