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- Title
Legacy effect of plant chemical defence substances on litter decomposition.
- Authors
Luo, Yunchao; Wang, Lin; Cao, Tingting; He, Weihua; Lu, Shangxian; Li, Fei; Zhang, Zhenwei; Chang, Tong; Tian, Xingjun
- Abstract
Aims: Chemical defence in plant tissue is an important physiological process in plants, mainly driven by secondary metabolites. However, how the chemical defence substances regulate soil biological processes after tissue death is still unclear. Methods: Litter bags filled with cotton strips and wood sticks were placed on the forest floor, combined soil zymography and high-throughput sequencing methods, we studied the effect of chemical defence substances of Cinnamomum camphora on the decomposition of the standard litter incubated in C. camphora forest and Quercus variabilis forest. In laboratory trials, we tested how microorganisms responded to these chemical defence substances using selective media. Results: The addition of C. camphora chemical defence substances increased the decomposition rate of standard litter in situ environment by more than 70%; While in the away ecosystem, Q. variabilis forest, reduced the decomposition rate of standard litter by approximately 50%. The soil P content and activity of acid phosphatase changed significantly. Adding C. camphora components to the C. camphora forest significantly enhanced the abundance of detritivores, the opposite result is observed in Q. variabilis forest. Evidence suggests that C. camphora components regulated soil microbial communities. Conclusions: Our study suggests a legacy effect associated with plant chemical defence substances, which regulates the soil nutrient cycle such as litter decomposition and plays a positive or negative role in soil carbon dynamics depending on the presence of co-evolved or naïve decomposers. The study of this universal ecological legacy effect provides an important theoretical reference for soil utilization and planting of plantations.
- Subjects
PHYTOCHEMICALS; ACID phosphatase; NUTRIENT cycles; SOIL dynamics; NUCLEOTIDE sequencing; COTTON
- Publication
Plant & Soil, 2023, Vol 487, Issue 1/2, p93
- ISSN
0032-079X
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s11104-023-05954-3