%0 Electronic Article %A Hobbie, Sarah E. %I Springer-Verlag %D 2000 %D 2000 %G English %@ 1432-9840 %@ 1435-0629 %~ Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Kunstbibliothek %T Interactions between Litter Lignin and Soil Nitrogen Availability during Leaf Litter Decomposition in a Hawaiian Montane Forest %V 3 %J Ecosystems %V 3 %N 5 %P 484-494 %U https://www.jstor.org/stable/3659066 %X

Previous work in a young Hawaiian forest has shown that nitrogen (N) limits aboveground net primary production (ANPP) more strongly than it does decomposition, despite low soil N availability. In this study, I determined whether (a) poor litter C quality (that is, high litter lignin) poses an overriding constraint on decomposition, preventing decomposers from responding to added N, or (b) high N levels inhibit lignin degradation, lessening the effects of added N on decomposition overall. I obtained leaf litter from one species, Metrosideros polymorpha, which dominates a range of sites in the Hawaiian Islands and whose litter lignin concentration declines with decreasing precipitation. Litter from three dry sites had lignin concentrations of 12% or less, whereas litter from two wet sites, including the study site, had lignin concentrations of more than 18%. This litter was deployed 2.5 years in a common site in control plots (receiving no added nutrients) and in N-fertilized plots. Nitrogen fertilization stimulated decomposition of the low-lignin litter types more than that of the high-lignin litter types. However, in contrast to results from temperate forests, N did not inhibit lignin decomposition. Rather, lignin decay increased with added N, suggesting that the small effect of N on decomposition at this site results from limitation of decomposition by poor C quality rather than from N inhibition of lignin decay. Even though ANPP is limited by N, decomposers are strongly limited by C quality. My results suggest that anthropogenic N deposition may increase leaf litter decomposition more in ecosystems characterized by low-lignin litter than in those characterized by high-lignin litter.

%Z https://katalog.skd.museum/Record/ai-55-aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuanN0b3Iub3JnL3N0YWJsZS8zNjU5MDY2 %U https://katalog.skd.museum/Record/ai-55-aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuanN0b3Iub3JnL3N0YWJsZS8zNjU5MDY2