Disturbance can slow down litter decomposition, depending on severity of disturbance and season: an example from Mount Kilimanjaro
<p>Deforestation and land-use change affect ecosystem processes such as carbon cycling. Here, we present results from a litter decomposition experiment in six natural and six disturbed vegetation types along an elevation gradient of 3600 m on the southern slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania....
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Copernicus Publications
2024-02-01
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| Series: | Web Ecology |
| Online Access: | https://we.copernicus.org/articles/24/11/2024/we-24-11-2024.pdf |
| _version_ | 1827342248212168704 |
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| author | J. Röder T. Appelhans T. Appelhans M. K. Peters T. Nauss R. Brandl |
| author_facet | J. Röder T. Appelhans T. Appelhans M. K. Peters T. Nauss R. Brandl |
| author_sort | J. Röder |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | <p>Deforestation and land-use change affect ecosystem processes such as carbon cycling. Here, we present results from a litter decomposition experiment in six natural and six disturbed vegetation types along an elevation gradient of 3600 m on the southern slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. We exposed litter bags with a standard material for up to 12 weeks each in two seasons. In the cold wet season we sampled the full elevation gradient and in the warm wet season we repeated the sampling in the lower part of the elevation gradient. Though we found significantly negative effects of disturbance in forest ecosystems, this was only due to differences between natural and burned <i>Podocarpus</i> forests. Disturbance characterized by a more open vegetation structure in many of the studied vegetation types had no general effect when we studied the full elevation gradient; this also included non-forest vegetation types. Land-use intensity had a significant negative effect on decomposition rates but only in the warm wet season, not in the cold wet season. Temperature and humidity were the most important drivers of decomposition overall and for all subsets of vegetation types and seasons. Our study shows that negative effects of disturbance or land-use intensity on decomposition depended on the severity of disturbance and on the season. Nevertheless, climate was generally the most relevant driver of decomposition. Therefore, vegetation types with moderate levels of disturbance can retain high functionality in regards to carbon cycling over short periods of time. More and longer decomposition studies are necessary to better predict consequences of land-use change for carbon cycling in the Afrotropics.</p> |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T22:03:56Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-252d1dbafe304798b877b4b62070367c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2193-3081 1399-1183 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T22:03:56Z |
| publishDate | 2024-02-01 |
| publisher | Copernicus Publications |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Web Ecology |
| spelling | doaj.art-252d1dbafe304798b877b4b62070367c2024-02-23T22:10:13ZengCopernicus PublicationsWeb Ecology2193-30811399-11832024-02-0124113310.5194/we-24-11-2024Disturbance can slow down litter decomposition, depending on severity of disturbance and season: an example from Mount KilimanjaroJ. Röder0T. Appelhans1T. Appelhans2M. K. Peters3T. Nauss4R. Brandl5Animal Ecology, Department of Ecology, Faculty of Biology, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Karl-von-Frisch-Straße 8, 35032 Marburg, GermanyEnvironmental Informatics, Faculty of Geography, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Deutschhausstraße 12, 35032 Marburg, Germanynow at: Addium GmbH, Flaschenhofstraße 3, 90402 Nuremberg, GermanyDepartment of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, Biocenter, University of Würzburg, Am Hubland, 97974 Würzburg, GermanyEnvironmental Informatics, Faculty of Geography, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Deutschhausstraße 12, 35032 Marburg, GermanyAnimal Ecology, Department of Ecology, Faculty of Biology, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Karl-von-Frisch-Straße 8, 35032 Marburg, Germany<p>Deforestation and land-use change affect ecosystem processes such as carbon cycling. Here, we present results from a litter decomposition experiment in six natural and six disturbed vegetation types along an elevation gradient of 3600 m on the southern slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. We exposed litter bags with a standard material for up to 12 weeks each in two seasons. In the cold wet season we sampled the full elevation gradient and in the warm wet season we repeated the sampling in the lower part of the elevation gradient. Though we found significantly negative effects of disturbance in forest ecosystems, this was only due to differences between natural and burned <i>Podocarpus</i> forests. Disturbance characterized by a more open vegetation structure in many of the studied vegetation types had no general effect when we studied the full elevation gradient; this also included non-forest vegetation types. Land-use intensity had a significant negative effect on decomposition rates but only in the warm wet season, not in the cold wet season. Temperature and humidity were the most important drivers of decomposition overall and for all subsets of vegetation types and seasons. Our study shows that negative effects of disturbance or land-use intensity on decomposition depended on the severity of disturbance and on the season. Nevertheless, climate was generally the most relevant driver of decomposition. Therefore, vegetation types with moderate levels of disturbance can retain high functionality in regards to carbon cycling over short periods of time. More and longer decomposition studies are necessary to better predict consequences of land-use change for carbon cycling in the Afrotropics.</p>https://we.copernicus.org/articles/24/11/2024/we-24-11-2024.pdf |
| spellingShingle | J. Röder T. Appelhans T. Appelhans M. K. Peters T. Nauss R. Brandl Disturbance can slow down litter decomposition, depending on severity of disturbance and season: an example from Mount Kilimanjaro Web Ecology |
| title | Disturbance can slow down litter decomposition, depending on severity of disturbance and season: an example from Mount Kilimanjaro |
| title_full | Disturbance can slow down litter decomposition, depending on severity of disturbance and season: an example from Mount Kilimanjaro |
| title_fullStr | Disturbance can slow down litter decomposition, depending on severity of disturbance and season: an example from Mount Kilimanjaro |
| title_full_unstemmed | Disturbance can slow down litter decomposition, depending on severity of disturbance and season: an example from Mount Kilimanjaro |
| title_short | Disturbance can slow down litter decomposition, depending on severity of disturbance and season: an example from Mount Kilimanjaro |
| title_sort | disturbance can slow down litter decomposition depending on severity of disturbance and season an example from mount kilimanjaro |
| url | https://we.copernicus.org/articles/24/11/2024/we-24-11-2024.pdf |
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