Litter biota and quality as drivers of litter decomposition in mature oak forests subject to drought or elevated CO₂

Increasing atmospheric CO₂ concentrations alongside more frequent and severe droughts are key global change factors impacting litter decomposition, and global carbon and nitrogen cycles. Yet, we have a poor understanding of how these perturbations impact interactions between litter chemistry and decomposer food webs.

We tested how drought and elevated CO₂ concentrations modify litter decomposition via litter chemistry and the decomposer communities using two separate, long-term manipulative drought or elevated CO₂ field experiments in mature oak woodlands. Litter bags were deployed in a reciprocal transplant design whereby control and treated litter was incubated in control and treated plots. We measured litter mass loss, quality and stoichiometry, moisture content, and microbial and animal community composition.

Elevated CO₂ and drought affected litter stoichiometry and quality which in turn affected decomposition: litter in droughted plots decomposing slower than controls, while litter from elevated CO₂ plots decomposed slower over the first three harvests. In addition, we found that litter mass loss and decomposers were related both directly and indirectly to litter C:N.

Drought and elevated CO₂ have distinct pathways of influence on litter quality, decomposers and decomposition which challenges our ability to predict how combinations of factors influence litter decomposition.