17.6.2014: Forschung international
Biodiversitätsverlust wirkt sich auf die Zersetzung von Pflanzenstreu aus
La perte de biodiversité influence la décomposition de la litière
Handa Tanya et al.
In Feldexperimenten in fünf terrestrischen und aquatischen Ökosystemen wurde die Zusammensetzung der Pflanzenstreu sowie der Organismen, die für die Zersetzung der Streu verantwortlich sind, manipuliert. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass eine niedrige Biodiversität die Zersetzung in allen Ökosystemen verlangsamt und somit den Kreislauf von wichtigen Elementen wie Kohlenstoff und Stickstoff grossflächig beeinflusst.
La composition de la litière et des organismes responsables de sa décomposition ont été manipulé dans des essais de terrain dans cinq écosystèmes terrestres et aquatiques. Les résultats montrent qu’une faible biodiversité ralenti la décomposition dans tous les écosystèmes et influence ainsi le cycle d’éléments importants tel que le carbone et l’azote à grande échelle.
The decomposition of dead organic matter is a major determinant of carbon and nutrient cycling in ecosystems, and of carbon fluxes between the biosphere and the atmosphere. Decomposition is driven by a vast diversity of organisms that are structured in complex food webs. Identifying the mechanisms underlying the effects of biodiversity on decomposition is critical given the rapid loss of species worldwide and the effects of this loss on human well-being. Yet despite comprehensive syntheses of studies on how biodiversity affects litter decomposition, key questions remain, including when, where and how biodiversity has a role and whether general patterns and mechanisms occur across ecosystems and different functional types of organism.
In field experiments across five terrestrial and aquatic locations, ranging from the subarctic to the tropics, a new study shows that reducing the functional diversity of decomposer organisms and plant litter types slowed the cycling of litter carbon and nitrogen. Moreover, the researchers found evidence of nitrogen transfer from the litter of nitrogen-fixing plants to that of rapidly decomposing plants, but not between other plant functional types, highlighting that specific interactions in litter mixtures control carbon and nitrogen cycling during decomposition. The emergence of this general mechanism and the coherence of patterns across contrasting terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems suggest that biodiversity loss has consistent consequences for litter decomposition and the cycling of major elements on broad spatial scales.
Keywords:
Zersetzung; Streu; Funktionale Biodiversität; Kohlenstoff; Stickstoff
Art der Publikation:
Fachpublikation
Literatur:
Handa T. et al. (2014): Consequences of biodiversity loss for litter decomposition across biomes. Nature 509, 218-221. doi:10.1038/nature13247
http://www.mnf.uzh.ch/index.php?id=20&no_cache=1&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=971&type=98&print=1
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v509/n7499/full/nature13247.html
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Bernhard.schmid@ieu.uzh.ch
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