Detritivore conversion of litter into faeces accelerates organic matter turnover
2020
Joly, François-Xavier | Coq, Sylvain | Coulis, Mathieu | David, Jean-François | Hättenschwiler, Stephan | Mueller, Carsten W. | Prater, Isabel | Subke, Jens-Arne | Biological and Environmental Sciences [Stirling] ; University of Stirling | Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive (CEFE) ; Université Paul-Valéry - Montpellier 3 (UPVM)-École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE) ; Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD [Occitanie])-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)-Institut Agro - Montpellier SupAgro ; Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement (Institut Agro)-Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement (Institut Agro) | Fonctionnement écologique et gestion durable des agrosystèmes bananiers et ananas (UR GECO) ; Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (Cirad) | Département Performances des systèmes de production et de transformation tropicaux (Cirad-PERSYST) ; Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (Cirad) | Chair of Soil Science ; Technical University of Berlin / Technische Universität Berlin (TUB)
International audience
اظهر المزيد [+] اقل [-]إنجليزي. Litter-feeding soil animals are notoriously neglected in conceptual and mechanistic biogeochemical models. Yet, they may be a dominant factor in decomposition by converting large amounts of plant litter into faeces. Here, we assess how the chemical and physical changes occurring when litter is converted into faeces alter their fate during further decomposition with an experimental test including 36 combinations of phylogenetically distant detritivores and leaf litter of contrasting physicochemical characteristics. We show that, across litter and detritivore species, litter conversion into detritivore faeces enhanced organic matter lability and thereby accelerated carbon cycling. Notably, the positive conversion effect on faeces quality and decomposition increased with decreasing quality and decomposition of intact litter. This general pattern was consistent across detritivores as different as snails and woodlice, and reduced differences in quality and decomposition amongst litter species. Our data show that litter conversion into detritivore faeces has far-reaching consequences for the understanding and modelling of the terrestrial carbon cycle.
اظهر المزيد [+] اقل [-]المعلومات البيبليوغرافية
تم تزويد هذا السجل من قبل Institut national de la recherche agronomique