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Multiple abiotic and biotic drivers of long-term wood decomposition within and among species in semiarid inland dunes: a dual role for stem diameter

Cite this dataset

Erdenebileg, Enkhmaa et al. (2020). Multiple abiotic and biotic drivers of long-term wood decomposition within and among species in semiarid inland dunes: a dual role for stem diameter [Dataset]. Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.3tx95x6c2

Abstract

This is wood decomposition data conducted in an semiarid inland dune including mass loss, initial wood traits and k values of combinations between five diameter classes and four shrub species under different treatments including UV and litter position. We found that after 34 months of in situ incubation, the mass loss of buried woody litters was three times faster than those of suspended and surface woody litters (53.5 ± 2.7 %, 17.0 ± 1.0 % and 14.4± 1.2 %, respectively). In surface and suspended positions, litter decomposition rates were almost equally low and most mass loss was during the first two years, when bark was still attached and UV radiation had no significant effect on woody litter mass loss.

 

 

Methods

The data were collected by in situ decomposition experiment over 34 months of incubation. In a field manipulation experiment, we investigated the relative importance of litter position (sand burial vs surface vs suspended above the surface), UV radiation (block vs pass), and stem diameter class (<2, 2-4, 4-8, 8-13, and 13-20 mm) on the mass loss of woody litters of four shrub species in an inland dune ecosystem in northern China. Initial bark and wood traits including bark thickness, bark dry matter content, wood nitrogen concentration, wood dry matter content, wood density were measured using standardized methods in the laboratory.  The k value for wood decomposition were calcuated by ordinary nonlinear regression using Olson's (1963) negative exponential model. 

Funding

Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China, Award: 2016YFC0500501

the National Science Foundation of China

the National Science Foundation of China, Award: 31470712

the CAS President's International Fellowship Initiative

the CAS President's International Fellowship Initiative, Award: 2018VCA0014

Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China, Award: 2018YFE0182800

Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China, Award: 2016YFC0500501