TY - JOUR

T1 - Comparable early-stage decomposition but contrasting underlying drivers between surface and cave habitats along an elevational gradient

AU - Bodawatta, Kasun H.

AU - Ravn, Nynne

AU - Oromí, Pedro

AU - Esquivel, José Luis Martin

AU - Michelsen, Anders

AU - Poulsen, Michael

AU - Jønsson, Knud Andreas

AU - Reboleira, Ana Sofia

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2023

PY - 2023

Y1 - 2023

N2 - Decomposition is a major contributor to ecosystem respiration, determining the carbon emission and nutrient cycling rates. Our current understanding of decomposition dynamics and their underlying drivers has mainly focused on surface habitats but largely ignored in subterranean environments. Here we studied abiotic and microbial drivers of early-stage litter decomposition inside and outside caves along an elevational gradient in Tenerife. We found comparable decomposition rates (k) and litter stabilizing factors (S), with contrasting drivers and elevational variation. At the surface, we observed a mid-elevational trend in k, which tended to correlate with water availability, cooler temperatures, nutrient availability, and surface-specific bacterial taxa. In sharp contrast, caves showed no elevational impact nor influence of abiotic parameters and bacterial communities on k. Despite this, we found higher levels of S in caves, which were associated mainly with reduced water availability, lower temperatures and cave-specific bacterial taxa, indicating that conditions in caves are strongly linked with carbon storage. Our findings imply that our current perception of terrestrial habitat-based carbon cycling are underestimating the net carbon budget in areas with caves. Disentangling the role of the environment on decomposition in caves is key to fully characterize their roles in nutrient cycling and to understand how increasing anthropogenic pressures will affect fundamental processes in subterranean ecosystems.

AB - Decomposition is a major contributor to ecosystem respiration, determining the carbon emission and nutrient cycling rates. Our current understanding of decomposition dynamics and their underlying drivers has mainly focused on surface habitats but largely ignored in subterranean environments. Here we studied abiotic and microbial drivers of early-stage litter decomposition inside and outside caves along an elevational gradient in Tenerife. We found comparable decomposition rates (k) and litter stabilizing factors (S), with contrasting drivers and elevational variation. At the surface, we observed a mid-elevational trend in k, which tended to correlate with water availability, cooler temperatures, nutrient availability, and surface-specific bacterial taxa. In sharp contrast, caves showed no elevational impact nor influence of abiotic parameters and bacterial communities on k. Despite this, we found higher levels of S in caves, which were associated mainly with reduced water availability, lower temperatures and cave-specific bacterial taxa, indicating that conditions in caves are strongly linked with carbon storage. Our findings imply that our current perception of terrestrial habitat-based carbon cycling are underestimating the net carbon budget in areas with caves. Disentangling the role of the environment on decomposition in caves is key to fully characterize their roles in nutrient cycling and to understand how increasing anthropogenic pressures will affect fundamental processes in subterranean ecosystems.

KW - Canary Islands

KW - Decomposition

KW - Elevational gradient

KW - Microbiome

KW - Nutrient recycling

KW - Subterranean ecosystems

U2 - 10.1016/j.ecolind.2023.110607

DO - 10.1016/j.ecolind.2023.110607

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:85165494395

VL - 154

JO - Ecological Indicators

JF - Ecological Indicators

SN - 1470-160X

M1 - 110607

ER -