Publication Date:
2007-01-20
Description:
Litter decomposition provides the primary source of mineral nitrogen (N) for biological activity in most terrestrial ecosystems. A 10-year decomposition experiment in 21 sites from seven biomes found that net N release from leaf litter is dominantly driven by the initial tissue N concentration and mass remaining regardless of climate, edaphic conditions, or biota. Arid grasslands exposed to high ultraviolet radiation were an exception, where net N release was insensitive to initial N. Roots released N linearly with decomposition and exhibited little net N immobilization. We suggest that fundamental constraints on decomposer physiologies lead to predictable global-scale patterns in net N release during decomposition.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Parton, William -- Silver, Whendee L -- Burke, Ingrid C -- Grassens, Leo -- Harmon, Mark E -- Currie, William S -- King, Jennifer Y -- Adair, E Carol -- Brandt, Leslie A -- Hart, Stephen C -- Fasth, Becky -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2007 Jan 19;315(5810):361-4.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, Colorado State University, 200 West Lake, Campus Mail 1499, Fort Collins, CO 80523-1499, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17234944" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
*Biodegradation, Environmental
;
Carbon/metabolism
;
Climate
;
*Ecosystem
;
Humidity
;
Mathematics
;
Nitrogen/*metabolism
;
Plant Leaves/metabolism
;
Plant Roots/metabolism
;
Plants/*metabolism
;
Poaceae
;
Regression Analysis
;
Seasons
;
Soil Microbiology
;
Temperature
;
Time Factors
;
Trees
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
