Effect of soil microorganisms and labile C availability on soil respiration in response to litter inputs in forest ecosystems: A meta‐analysis

作者：Yan-Jun Zhang, Junliang Zou, Delong Meng, Shuina Dang, Jinhong Zhou, Bruce Osborne, Yuanyuan Ren, Ting Liang, Keke Yu · 发表于：Ecology and Evolution · 年份：2020 · DOI：10.1002/ece3.6965 · 被引用次数：90 · 研究领域：Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics、Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies、Forest Ecology and Biodiversity Studies

Litter inputs can influence soil respiration directly through labile C availability and, indirectly, through the activity of soil microorganisms and modifications in soil microclimate; however, their relative contributions and the magnitude of any effect remain poorly understood. We synthesized 66 recently published papers on forest ecosystems using a meta-analysis approach to investigate the effect of litter inputs on soil respiration and the underlying mechanisms involved. Our results showed that litter inputs had a strong positive impact on soil respiration, labile C availability, and the abundance of soil microorganisms, with less of an impact related to soil moisture and temperature. Overall, soil respiration was increased by 36% and 55%, respectively, in response to natural and doubled litter inputs. The increase in soil respiration induced by litter inputs showed a tendency for coniferous forests (50.7%)> broad-leaved forests (41.3%)> mixed forests (31.9%). This stimulation effect also depended on stand age with 30- to 100-year-old forests (53.3%) and ≥100-year-old forests (50.2%) both 1.5 times larger than ≤30-year-old forests (34.5%). Soil microbial biomass carbon and soil dissolved organic carbon increased by 21.0%-33.6% and 60.3%-87.7%, respectively, in response to natural and doubled litter inputs, while soil respiration increased linearly with corresponding increases in soil microbial biomass carbon and soil dissolved organic carbon. Natural and doubled litter in...