Impact of species diversity, stand age and environmental factors on leaf litter decomposition in subtropical forests in China

Abstract

Background and aims Tree diversity is considered to influence decomposition either by changing environmental conditions or by non-additive litter mixture effects. Thus, we examined the influence of tree species richness, forest age and environmental factors on single-species decomposition, and tested the hypothesis that high litter species diversity induces predominantly positive non-additive mixture effects on decomposition processes.