Leaf litter decomposition in urban forests: test of the home-field advantage hypothesis

Author

Yan Sun, 

Shuqing Zhao

Original Paper

First Online: 

31 August 2016

DOI: 10.1007/s13595-016-0577-y

Cite this article as: 

Sun, Y. & Zhao, S. Annals of Forest Science (2016). doi:10.1007/s13595-016-0577-y

Key message

The home-field advantage (HFA) hypothesis states that leaf litter decomposes faster in the habitat from which it was derived (i.e., home) than beneath a different plant species (i.e., away from home). We conducted reciprocal translocation experiments to explore the HFA effect of urban leaf litter decomposition. HFA of litter decomposition varied with species and season, and interacted with nutrient and environmental dynamics.

Context

Although forest litterfall and subsequent decay are acknowledged as a critical factor regulating nutrient cycling, soil fertility, and ecosystem carbon budgets in natural ecosystems, they remain less understood in urban ecosystems and the evidence for HFA has not been universal.

Aims

We select Beijing Olympic Forest Park (BOFP), the largest urban forest park of Asia, as a case study to explore HFA of leaf litter decomposition in urban forest ecosystems. We investigated the litterfall production, mass loss, and nutrient dynamics of two species (Robinia pseudoacacia and Pinus armandii) commonly planted in Beijing urban forest ecosystems.

Methods

Variations in litterfall production were measured in R. pseudoacacia stand and P. armandiistands over 12 months. HFA of litter decomposition was explored by reciprocal leaf litter translocation experiments, and leaves were analyzed for C, N, and P during decomposition of 297 days.

Results

Two major peaks of total litterfall in R. pseudoacacia were observed, while litterfall in P. armandii followed a unimodal distribution pattern, which were similar to seasonal patterns of broadleaf and coniferous litter production in natural forest ecosystems. The loss of initial ash-free mass of R. pseudoacacia (19 %) was about twofold of P. armandii (11 %). The litter quality (e.g., initial C, N, and P) might have contributed to the differences between broadleaf and coniferous species. Leaf litter decomposition of R. pseudoacacia showed seasonal switch of HFA. In contrast, P. armandii showed a constant HFA during the whole study period.

Conclusion

HFA of litter decomposition in urban forests varied by species and season. We found the seasonal switch of the HFA effect for R. pseudoacacia, which has not been observed in nonurban ecosystems. More observations or experiments with multiple species or mixed species across various cities are needed to understand the processes and mechanisms of litter decomposition and nutrient dynamics in the urban ecosystems.

References

1. Aerts R (1997) Climate, leaf litter chemistry, and decomposition in terrestrial ecosystems: a triangular relationship. Oikos 79:439–449CrossRef
2. Angel S, Parent J, Civco DL, Blei A, Potere D (2011) The dimensions of global urban expansion: estimates and projections for all countries, 2000–2050. Prog Plan 75:53–107CrossRef
3. Aponte C, García LV, Maranon T (2012) Tree species effect on litter decomposition and nutrient release in mediterranean oak forests changes over time. Ecosystems 15:1204–1218CrossRef
4. Ayres E, Steltzer H, Simmons BL, Simpson RT, Steinweg JM, Wallenstein MD, Mellor N, Parton WJ, Moore JC, Wall DH (2009a) Home-field advantages accelerates leaf litter decomposition in forests. Soil Biol Biochem 41:606–610CrossRef
5. Ayres E, Steltzer H, Berg S, Wall DH (2009b) Soil biota accelerate decomposition in high-elevation forests by specializing in the breakdown of litter produced by the plant species above them. J Ecol 97:901–912CrossRef
6. Barlow J, Gardner TA, Ferreira LV, Peres CA (2007) Litter fall and decomposition in primary, secondary and plantation forests in the Brazilian Amazon. Forest Ecol Manag 247:91–97CrossRef
7. Berg B, McClaugherty C (2008) Plant litter. Decomposition, humus formation, carbon sequestration. Springer, Berlin
8. Carreiro MM, Howe K, Parkhurst DF, Pouyat RV (1999) Variation in quality and decomposability of red oak leaf litter along an urban-rural gradient. Biol Fert. Soils 30:258–268
9. Chapman SK, Koch GW (2007) What type of diversity yields synergy during mixed litter decomposition in a natural forest ecosystem? Plant Soil 299:153–162CrossRef
10. Chen W, Jia X, Zha T, Wu B, Zhang Y, Li C, Wang XHG, Yu H, Chen G (2013) Soil respiration in a mixed urban forest in China in relation to soil temperature and water content. European J Soil Biol 54:63–68CrossRef
11. de Toledo Castanho C, de Oliveira AA (2008) Relative effect of litter quality, forest type and their interaction on leaf decomposition in south-east Brazilian forests. J Trop Ecol 24:149–156CrossRef
12. Enloe HA, Lockaby BG, Zipperer WC, Somers GL (2015) Urbanization effects on leaf litter decomposition, foliar nutrient dynamics and aboveground net primary productivity in the subtropics. Urban Ecosys 18:1285–1303CrossRef
13. Ganjegunte GK, Condron LM, Clinton PW, Davis MR, Mahieu N (2004) Decomposition and nutrient release from radiata pine (Pinus radiata) coarse woody debris. Forest Ecol Manag 187:197–211CrossRef
14. Gholz HL, Wedin DA, Smitherman SM, Harmon ME, Parton WJ (2000) Long-term dynamics of pine and hardwood litter in contrasting environments: toward a global model of decomposition. Glob Chang Biol 6:751–765CrossRef
15. Gießelmann UC, Martins KG, Brändle M, Schädler M, Marques R, Brandl R (2011) Lack of home-field advantage in the decomposition of leaf litter in the Atlantic Rainforest of Brazil. Appl Soil Ecol 49:5–10CrossRef
16. Gonzalez G, Seastedt TR, Donato Z (2003) Earthworms, arthropods and plant litter decomposition in aspen (Populus tremuloides) and lodgepole pine (Pinuscontorta) forests in Colorado, USA. Pedobiologia 47:863–869
17. Gregg JW, Jones CG, Dawson TE (2003) Urbanization effects on tree growth in the vicinity of New York City. Nature 424:183–187PubMedCrossRef
18. Grimm NB, Faeth SH, Golubiewski NE, Redman CL, Wu J, Bai X, Briggs JM (2008) Global change and the ecology of cities. Science 319:756–760PubMedCrossRef
19. Guo Q, He X, Chen W, Huang Y (2012) Decomposition dynamics of Pinus tabulaeformis leaf litter at urban and suburban sites of Shenyang, Northeast China. Chinese. J Ecol 31:1397–1403 in Chinese
20. Harmon ME, Nadelhoffer KJ, Blair JM (1999) Measuring decomposition, nutrient turnover, and stores in plant litter. In: Robertson GP, Coleman DC, Bledsoe CS, Sollins P (eds) Standard soil methods for long-term ecological research. Oxford University Press, New York, pp. 202–240
21. He K, Huo H, Zhang Q (2002) Urban air pollution in China: current status, characteristics, and progress. Annu Rev Energy Environ 27:397–431CrossRef
22. Hobbie SE, Baker LA, Buyarski C, Nidzgorski D, Finlay JC (2014) Decomposition of tree leaf litter on pavement: implications for urban water quality. Urban Ecosyst 17:369–385CrossRef
23. Hope D, Gries C, Zhu W, Fagan WF, Redman CL, Grimm NB, Nelson AL, Martin C, Kinzig A (2003) Socioeconomics drive urban plant diversity. P Natl Acad Sci USA 100:8788–8792CrossRef
24. Hunt HW, Ingham ER, Coleman DC, Elliott ET, Reid CPP (1988) Nitrogen limitation of production and decomposition in prairie, mountain meadow, and pine forest. Ecology 69:1009–1016CrossRef
25. Hutmacher AM, Zaimes GN, Martin J (2014) Vegetative litter decomposition along urban ephemeral streams in Southeastern Arizona. Urban Ecosyst 18:431–448CrossRef
26. Imhoff ML, Bounoua L, DeFries R, LawrenceWT SD, Tucker CJ, Ricketts T (2004) The consequences of urban land transformation on net primary productivity in the United States. Remote Sens Environ 89:434–443CrossRef
27. John MG, Orwin KH, Dickie IA (2011) No ‘home’versus ‘away’effects of decomposition found in a grassland-forest reciprocal litter transplant study. Soil Biol Biochem 43:1482–1489CrossRef
28. Kaye JP, Groffman PM, Grimm NB, Baker LA, Pouyat RV (2006) A distinct urban biogeochemistry? Trends Ecol Evol 21:192–199PubMedCrossRef
29. Kuiters AT, Sarink HM (1986) Leaching of phenolic compounds from leaf and needle litter of several deciduous and coniferous trees. Soil Biol Biochem 18:475–480CrossRef
30. Leff JW, Wieder WR, Taylor PG, Townsend AR, Nemergut DR, Grandy AS, Cleveland CC (2012) Experimental litterfall manipulation drives large and rapid changes in soil carbon cycling in a wet tropical forest. Glob Chang Biol 18:2969–2979PubMedCrossRef
31. Lin T, Gibson V, Cui S, CP Y, Chen S, Ye Z, Zhu Y (2014) Managing urban nutrient biogeochemistry for sustainable urbanization. Environ Pollut 192:244–250PubMedCrossRef
32. Liu L, Gundersen P, Zhang T, Mo J (2012) Effects of phosphorus addition on soil microbial biomass and community composition in three forest types in tropical China. Soil Biol Biochem 44:31–38CrossRef
33. Lu S, Liu C (2012) Patterns of litterfall and nutrient return at different altitudes in evergreen hardwood forests of Central Taiwan. Ann. For Sci 69:877–886
34. Michopoulos P (2011) Biogeochemistry of urban forests. Forest Hydrology and Biogeochemistry (pp. 341–353): Springer Netherlands
35. Milcu A, Manning P (2011) All size classes of soil fauna and litter quality control the acceleration of litter decay in its home environment. Oikos 120:1366–1370CrossRef
36. Moore TR, Trofymow JA, Prescott CE, Titus BD, CIDET Working Group (2011) Nature and nurture in the dynamics of C, N and P during litter decomposition in Canadian forests. Plant Soil 339:163–175CrossRef
37. Negrete-Yankelevich S, Fragoso C, Newton AC, Russell G, Heal OW (2008) Species-specific characteristics of trees can determine the litter macroinvertebrate community and decomposition process below their canopies. Plant Soil 307:83–97CrossRef
38. Nielsen AB, Bosch M, Maruthaveeran S, Bosch CK (2014) Species richness in urban parks and its drivers: a review of empirical evidence. Urban Ecosyst 17:305–327CrossRef
39. Nikula S, Vapaavuori E, Manninen S (2010) Urbanization-related changes in European aspen (Populus tremula L.): leaf traits and litter decomposition. Environ Pollut 158:2132–2142PubMedCrossRef
40. Pataki DE, Carreiro MM, Cherrier J, Grulke NE, Jennings V, Pincetl S, Pouyat RV, Zipperer WC (2011) Coupling biogeochemical cycles in urban environments: ecosystem services, green solutions, and misconceptions. Front Ecol Environ 9:27–36CrossRef
41. Pickett ST, Cadenasso ML, Grove JM, Groffman PM, Band LE, Boone CG, Wilson MA (2008) Beyond urban legends: an emerging framework of urban ecology, as illustrated by the Baltimore Ecosystem Study. Bioscience 58:139–150CrossRef
42. Pouyat RV, Carreiro MM (2003) Controls on mass loss and nitrogen dynamics of oak leaf litter along an urban-rural land-use gradient. Oecologia 135:288–298PubMedCrossRef
43. Pouyat RV, McDonnell MJ, Pickett ST (1997) Litter decomposition and nitrogen mineralization in oak stands along an urban-rural land use gradient. Urban Ecosyst 1:117–131CrossRef
44. Pouyat R, Groffman P, Yesilonis I, Hernandez L (2002) Soil carbon pools and fluxes in urban ecosystems. Environ Pollut 116:S107–S118PubMedCrossRef
45. Prescott CE, Zabek LM, Staley CL, Kabzems R (2000) Decomposition of broadleaf and needle litter in forests of British Columbia: influences of litter type, forest type, and litter mixtures. Can J For Res 30:1742–1750CrossRef
46. Purahong W, Kapturska D, Pecyna MJ, Schulz E, Schloter M, Buscot F, Hofrichter M, Krüger D (2014) Influence of different forest system management practices on leaf litter decomposition rates, nutrient dynamics and the activity of ligninolytic enzymes: a case study from Central European forests. PLoS One 9:e93700PubMedPubMedCentralCrossRef
47. Rao P, Hutyra LR, Raciti SM, Finzi AC (2013) Field and remotely sensed measures of soil and vegetation carbon and nitrogen across an urbanization gradient in the Boston metropolitan area. Urban Ecosyst 16:593–616CrossRef
48. Rao P, Hutyra LR, Raciti SM, Temple PH (2014) Atmospheric nitrogen inputs and losses along an urbanization gradient from Boston to Harvard Forest, MA. Biogeochemistry 121:229–245CrossRef
49. Rothstein DE, Peter MV, Simmons BL (2004) An exotic tree alters decomposition and nutrient cycling in a Hawaiian montane forest. Ecosystems 7:805–814CrossRef
50. Sayer EJ, Tanner EV (2010) Experimental investigation of the importance of litterfall in lowland semi-evergreen tropical forest nutrient cycling. J Ecol 98:1052–1062CrossRef
51. Seto KC, Güneralp B, Hutyra LR (2012) Global forecasts of urban expansion to 2030 and direct impacts on biodiversity and carbon pools. P Natl Acad Sci USA 109:16083–16088CrossRef
52. Staelens J, Nachtergale L, De Schrijver A, Vanhellemont M, Wuyts K, Verheyen K (2011) Spatio-temporal litterfall dynamics in a 60-year-old mixed deciduous forest. Ann. For Sci 68:89–98
53. Swift MJ, Heal OW, Anderson JM (1979) Decomposition in terrestrial ecosystems. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford
54. Tan M, Li X, Xie H, Lu C (2005) Urban land expansion and arable land loss in China—a case study of Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region. Land Use Policy 22:187–196CrossRef
55. Templer PH, Toll JW, Hutyra LR, Raciti SM (2015) Nitrogen and carbon export from urban areas through removal and export of litterfall. Environ Pollut 197:256–261PubMedCrossRef
56. United Nations (2014) World urbanization prospects, the 2014 revision. United Nations, New York http://esa.un.org/unpd/wup/index.htm. Accessed 27 Jun 2014
57. Vauramo S, Setälä H (2011) Decomposition of labile and recalcitrant litter types under different plant communities in urban soils. Urban Ecosyst 14:59–70CrossRef
58. Wang QK, Wang SL (2007) Soil organic matter under different forest types in Southern China. Geoderma 142:349–356CrossRef
59. Wang Q, Zhong M, He T (2013) Home-field advantage of litter decomposition and nitrogen release in forest ecosystems. Biol Fert. Soils 49:427–434
60. Wang SJ, Ma H, Zhao Y (2014) Exploring the relationship between urbanization and the eco-environment—a case study of Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region. Ecol Indict 45:171–183CrossRef
61. Waring BG (2012) A meta-analysis of climatic and chemical controls on leaf litter decay rates in tropical forests. Ecosystems 15:999–1009CrossRef
62. Wu W, Zhao S, Zhu C, Jiang J (2015) A comparative study of urban expansion in Beijing, Tianjin and Shijiazhuang over the past three decades. Landscape Urban Plan 134:93–106CrossRef
63. Xie J, Jia X, He G, Zhou C, Yu H, Wu Y, Bourque CPA, Liu H, Zha T (2015) Environmental control over seasonal variation in carbon fluxes of an urban temperate forest ecosystem. Landscape Urban Plan 142:63–70CrossRef
64. Yaalon DH (2007) Human-induced ecosystem and landscape processes always involve soil change. Bioscience 57:918–919CrossRef
65. Yang Y, Guo J, Chen G, Xie J, Cai L, Lin P (2004) Litterfall, nutrient return, and leaf-litter decomposition in four plantations compared with a natural forest in subtropical China. Ann. For Sci 61:465–476
66. Zhang D, Hui D, Luo Y, Zhou G (2008) Rates of litter decomposition in terrestrial ecosystems: global patterns and controlling factors. J Plant Ecol 1:85–93CrossRef
67. Zhang C, Chen F, Miao S, Li Q, Xia X, Xuan C (2009) Impacts of urban expansion and future green planting on summer precipitation in the Beijing metropolitan area. J Geophy Res: Atmospheres (1984–2012) 114(D2)
68. Zhang X, Zhang X, Hu S, Liu T, Li G (2013) Runoff and sediment modeling in a peri-urban artificial landscape: case study of Olympic Forest Park in Beijing. J Hydrol 485:126–138CrossRef
69. Zhou D, Zhao S, Liu S, Zhang L, Zhu C (2014) Surface urban heat island in China’s 32 major cities: spatial patterns and drivers. Remote Sens Environ 152:51–61CrossRef

For further details log on website :
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13595-016-0577-y