Climatic stress-induced changes in plant chemistry alter the compound-specific degradation of litter during decomposition
Data files
Aug 19, 2025 version files 177.93 KB
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Metadata_Zhang_et_al._New_Phytologist.xlsx
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README.md
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Abstract
Plant litter decomposition supports ecosystem productivity and influences soil carbon cycling. Drought directly impacts decomposition by decreasing soil moisture and indirectly by altering plant tissue chemistry, an aspect that is less explored in decomposition research.
To elucidate the above interactive effects of altered precipitation on litter decomposition, we conducted an in situ and reciprocal decomposition experiment at a climate manipulation experiment (BACE) in MA, USA, using litter from Quercus rubra and Quercus velutina exposed to ambient, dry, and wet precipitation treatments for four years at BACE.
Plant tissues exposed to dry litter origin treatment were enriched in alkyl compounds and lignin in both species. Litter of Q. rubra from the dry treatment initially decomposed faster in the dry (38%) than in the wet treatment (28%). Similarly, litter of Q. rubra from the wet treatment initially decomposed faster in the wet (40%) compared to the dry (25%) treatment. Interestingly, litter of both species from the dry treatment, when decomposed in dry, ambient, and wet treatments, had more alkyl compounds, representing a legacy effect of the drought-induced altered initial litter chemistry that persisted throughout the two years of decomposition.
Our study provides novel insights that drought stress-induced changes in litter chemistry can influence mass loss and create a legacy effect on the persistence of recalcitrant compounds during decomposition.
The dataset Metadata_Zhang_et_al._New_Phytologist.xlsx includes (1) 'DRIFT-undecomposed QR', (2) 'DRIFT-undecomposed QV', (3)'DRIFT-decomposed QR', (4) 'DRIFT-decomposed QV', (5) 'Mass loss_QR Year 1', (6) 'Mass loss_QR Year 2', (7) 'Mass loss_QV Year 1', (8) 'Mass loss_QV Year 2', and (9) 'Soil Ergosterol' and (10) 'Phenol oxidase. In the metadata file, QR refers to Quercus rubra, QV refers to Quercus velutina, and DRIFT refers to Diffuse Reflectance Infrared Fourier Transform spectroscopy.
Description of the data and file structure
Data in the sheets of (1) 'DRIFT-undecomposed QR', and (2) 'DRIFT-undecomposed QV', are organized by the wave number of DRIFT named as 'DRIFT peaks', followed by the treatments 'QR_Dry litter', 'QR_Wet litter' and 'QR_Ambient litter', which indicates the undecomposed litter collected from the dry, wet and ambient precipitation treatments, respectively. Data in the sheets of (3)'DRIFT-decomposed QR', (4) 'DRIFT-decomposed QV', (5) 'Mass loss_QR Year 1', (6) 'Mass loss_QR Year 2', (7) 'Mass loss_QV Year 1', (8) 'Mass loss_QV Year 2' and (9) 'Soil Ergosterol' are organized by block, precipitation treatments, litter origin treatments, time of retrieval and the percent mass loss. In these data sets, precipitation treatments are labelled as AT, DT and WT, which refer to Ambient treatment, Dry treatment and Wet treatment, respectively. The litter origin treatments are labelled as AL, DL and WL, which refer to Ambient litter, Dry litter and Wet litter, respectively. Data in the sheet (10) 'Phenol oxidase' is organized by precipitation treatments. In the data that include DRIFT, the relative intensities of the different peaks are provided. Percentage of mass lost is provided in the data sets with mass loss.
For details on methods: refer to the published paper, doi: 10.1111/nph.70449
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