Climate effects on belowground tea litter decomposition depend on ecosystem and organic matter types in global wetlands.

• Author(s): Trevathan-Tackett, Stacey M. ; Kepfer-Rojas, Sebastian ; Malerba, Martino ; Macreadie, Peter I. ; Djukic, Ika ; Zhao, Junbin ; Young, Erica B. ; York, Paul H. ; Yeh, Shin-Cheng ; Xiong, Yanmei ; Winters, Gidon ; Whitlock, Danielle ; Weaver, Carolyn A. ; Watson, Anne ; Visby, Inger ; Tylkowski, Jacek ; Trethowan, Allison ; Tiegs, Scott ; Taylor, Ben ; Szpikowski, Jozef ; Szpikowska, Grażyna ; Strickland, Victoria L ; Stivrins, Normunds ; Sousa, Ana I. ; Sinutok, Sutinee ; Scheffel, Whitney A. ; Sanderman, Jonathan ; Sánchez-Carrillo, Salvador ; Sanchez-Cabeza, Joan-Albert ; Rymer, Krzysztof G. ; Ruiz-Fernandez, Ana Carolina ; Robroek, Bjorn J. M. ; Roberts, Tessa ; Ricart, Aurora M. ; Reynolds, Laura K. ; Rachlewicz, Grzegorz ; Prathep, Anchana ; Pinsonneault, Andrew J ; Pendall, Elise ; Payne, Richard ; Ozola, Ilze ; Onufrock, Cody ; Ola, Anne ; Oberbauer, Steven F ; Numbere, Aroloye O. ; Novak, Alyssa B. ; Norkko, Joanna ; Norkko, Alf ; Mozdzer, Thomas J. ; Morgan, Pam ; Montemayor, Diana I. ; Martin, Charles W. ; Malone, Sparkle L. ; Major, Maciej ; Majewski, Mikołaj ; Lundquist, Carolyn J. ; Lovelock, Catherine E ; Liu, Songlin ; Lin, Hsing-Juh ; Lillebo, Ana ; Li, Jinquan ; Kominoski, John S. ; Khuroo, Anzar Ahmad ; Kelleway, Jeffrey J. ; Jinks, Kristin I. ; Jerónimo, Daniel ; Janousek, Christopher ; Jackson, Emma L. ; Iribarne, Oscar ; Hanley, Torrance ; Hamid, Maroof ; Gupta, Arjun ; Guariento, Rafael D. ; Grudzinska, Ieva ; da Rocha Gripp, Anderson ; González Sagrario, María A. ; Garrison, Laura M. ; Gagnon, Karine ; Gacia, Esperança ; Fusi, Marco ; Farrington, Lachlan ; Farmer, Jenny ; de Assis Esteves, Francisco ; Escapa, Mauricio ; Domańska, Monika ; Dias, André T. C. ; Daffonchio, Daniele ; Czyryca, Paweł M. ; Connolly, Rod M. ; Cobb, Alexander ; Chudzińska, Maria ; Christiaen, Bart ; Chifflard, Peter ; Castelar, Sara ; Carneiro, Luciana S. ; Cardoso-Mohedano, José Gilberto ; Camden, Megan ; Caliman, Adriano ; Bulmer, Richard H. ; Bowen, Jennifer ; Boström, Christoffer ; Bernal, Susana ; Berges, John A. ; Benavides, Juan C. ; Barry, Savanna C. ; Alatalo, Juha M. ; Al-Haj, Alia N. ; Adame, Maria Fernanda ; Barrena de los Santos, Carmen ; Santos, Rui
• Date: 2024
• Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.1/26472
• Origin: Sapientia - Universidade do Algarve
• Subject(s): TeaComposition H2O; Climate; Environmental modeling
• Document Type: Journal article
• Language: English
• Contributor(s): Sapientia

Description

Patchy global data on belowground litter decomposition dynamics limit our capacity to discern the drivers of carbon preservation and storage across inland and coastal wetlands. We performed a global, multiyear study in over 180 wetlands across 28 countries and 8 macroclimates using standardized litter as measures of "recalcitrant" (rooibos tea) and "labile" (green tea) organic matter (OM) decomposition. Freshwater wetlands and tidal marshes had the highest tea mass remaining, indicating a greater potential for carbon preservation in these ecosystems. Recalcitrant OM decomposition increased with elevated temperatures throughout the decay period, e.g., increase from 10 to 20 °C corresponded to a 1.46-fold increase in the recalcitrant OM decay rate constant. The effect of elevated temperature on labile OM breakdown was ecosystem-dependent, with tidally influenced wetlands showing limited effects of temperature compared with freshwater wetlands. Based on climatic projections, by 2050 wetland decay constants will increase by 1.8% for labile and 3.1% for recalcitrant OM. Our study highlights the potential for reduction in belowground OM in coastal and inland wetlands under increased warming, but the extent and direction of this effect at a large scale is dependent on ecosystem and OM characteristics. Understanding local versus global drivers is necessary to resolve ecosystem influences on carbon preservation in wetlands.