Abstract
It is widely recognized that feedbacks exist between plant litter and plant community species composition, but this relationship is difficult to interpret over heterogeneous conditions typical of modified environments such as roadways. Given the need to expedite natural recovery of disturbed areas through restoration interventions, we characterized litter accumulation and nutrient content (i.e., organic carbon, total N, and P) and quantified their association with key plant species. Plant species cover and litter characteristics were sampled at 18 successional forest plant communities along major roadways in Sichuan Basin, western China. Variation in litter across communities was assessed with principal component analysis (PCA) and species with the highest correlation to PCA axes were determined with Pearson’s r coefficients. Plant communities with the longest time since road construction (i.e., 70 years) were distinctly different in litter total N and organic carbon compared to plant communities with a shorter disturbance history. We encountered 59 plant species across sampling plots, but only four rare species (i.e., frequency < 5) were strongly correlated with litter characteristics (p < 0.01); none of which were the most abundant where they occurred. These results highlight the importance of site-specific factors (i.e., geographic location, disturbance age) regulating plant litter across heavily disturbed landscapes and how litter characteristics and rare plant species are correlated.
Highlights
Plant litter is an important component of ecosystem functioning and nutrient cycling [1].Litter accumulation provides ground cover and reduces soil erosion and water runoff [2]
Our objectives were to assess the variability of litter accumulation and nutrient content among plant communities and identify which species have the greatest correlation with bulk litter traits
The scientific literature is replete with examples illustrating a strong association between species composition and litter attributes—especially nutrient content [40,41]
Summary
Plant litter is an important component of ecosystem functioning and nutrient cycling [1].Litter accumulation provides ground cover and reduces soil erosion and water runoff [2]. Plant litter is an important component of ecosystem functioning and nutrient cycling [1]. Litter creates soil microenvironments that may preferentially support seed germination of select plant species [3,4,5] and provides substrates for soil nutrient and resource pools [6,7]. When chemical composition of the litter from each species as well as their respective contribution to bulk litter accumulation are known [10], relationships between litter and species composition can be deciphered across environmental and successional gradients [11,12]. When litter composition and accumulation values are not available and species contributions to bulk litter are uncertain due to complex multi-species mixtures [13,14], associating litter traits and plant species composition
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