Does home-field advantage cause faster decomposition rates in temperate forest ecosystems?

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Decomposition of plant material is a fundamental ecological process that controls carbon storage and nutrient cycling in ecosystems, which in turn help determine plant production and can influence global climate. Decomposition rates are known to be strongly dependent on both climate and litter quality (i.e. the chemical composition of the material). However, these factors alone cannot fully explain rates of decomposition, which indicates that other factors also influence decomposition rates. This project will determine whether soil communities associated with specific tree species specialize in decomposing leaf litter from the same tree species growing above them. This phenomenon can be termed ?home-field advantage?. It will be tested in montane forests in Colorado by transplanting leaf litter from three tree species (trembling aspen, lodgepole pine, and Engelmann spruce) among stands of all three tree species and measuring decomposition over two years.An understanding of the role of soil biota in decomposition is important for two reasons. First, this data could be used to improve predictions of decomposition rates in forest ecosystems, a critical process in global carbon cycling. Second, ongoing climate changes are causing plant species to shift their ranges; however, the small size and limited dispersal ability of many soil organisms may prevent them from shifting their range in tandem with their host plant species. Thus, soil communities that specialize in decomposing leaf litter from a certain plant species may become geographically disconnected from that plant species, which could alter decomposition rates and the carbon cycle of the ecosystem. This research will train undergraduate and graduate students.