What makes decomposition faster under conspecific trees? The factors controlling the magnitude of home‐field advantage

What makes decomposition faster under conspecific trees? The factors controlling the magnitude of home‐field advantage

The ‘home‐field advantage (HFA)' for decomposition means that leaf litter decomposes faster on soils under the conspecific species (i.e. the home field) than on soils under different species (i.e. ‘away'). Many previous studies have demonstrated the HFA, but the underlying mechanisms remai...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Oikos Vol. 2024; no. 11
Main Authors: Daumal, Maya Mischa, Oguro, Michio, Ueda, Miki U., Takayanagi, Sakino, Nakashizuka, Tohru, Kurokawa, Hiroko
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01-11-2024
Subjects:
Acidic soils
Carbon cycle
Climate change
Climate prediction
Deciduous forests
Deciduous trees
Decomposition
Dominant species
Environmental changes
functional traits
home-field advantage
Leaf litter
Leaves
litter decomposition
Mixed forests
mountain forest
Nutrient cycles
plant–soil interaction
reciprocal transplant
Soil chemistry
Soil pH
Soil properties
Soil temperature
Soils
Transition zone
Vegetation effects
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Summary:The ‘home‐field advantage (HFA)' for decomposition means that leaf litter decomposes faster on soils under the conspecific species (i.e. the home field) than on soils under different species (i.e. ‘away'). Many previous studies have demonstrated the HFA, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. We conducted a reciprocal litter‐decomposition experiment using two species with different leaf traits: Abies mariesii, an evergreen conifer, and Fagus crenata, a deciduous broad‐leaved tree. Dominance of these species shifts along an elevation gradient with a transition zone where both species coexist. In mixed forests of the transition zone along the elevation gradient, we explored how the magnitude of HFA between these two species was influenced by temperature, soil properties, or leaf litter traits which could directly affect the decomposition rate. The magnitude of HFA observed between the two species varied widely from −3.89 to 28.3%. Our modeling showed that the magnitude of HFA increased with decreasing soil pH and leaf litter N, i.e. in more acidic soil and for less decomposable litter. Soil pH affected leaf litter decomposition in the home plots of each species, whereas leaf litter N did not. The magnitude of the HFA increased as the difference in soil pH between the F. crenata and A. mariesii plots at the same elevation became greater, but decreased as the difference in soil C became greater. Thus, the response of leaf litter decomposition to environmental changes might vary not only through direct effects of vegetation traits but also through indirect effects of the HFA. This highlights the importance of considering HFA for accurately predicting the response of local carbon and nutrient cycles to climate change, particularly in communities where a replacement of dominant species by others is expected due to climate change.
ISSN:0030-1299
1600-0706
DOI:10.1111/oik.10532