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

植物物质的分解是一个基本的生态过程，控制着生态系统中的碳储存和养分循环，这反过来又有助于确定植物产量，并可能影响全球气候。众所周知，分解速率在很大程度上取决于气候和凋落物的质量（即材料的化学成分）。然而，仅凭这些因素并不能完全解释分解率，这表明其他因素也影响分解率。该项目将确定与特定树种相关的土壤群落是否专门分解生长在其上方的同一树种的凋落叶。这种现象可以称为？主场优势?。该方法将在科罗拉多州的山地森林中进行试验，方法是将三种树种（颤栗杨、洛奇波勒松和恩格尔曼云杉）的凋落叶移植到这三种树种的林分中，并在两年内测量分解情况。了解土壤生物群在分解中的作用有两个重要原因。首先，这些数据可以用来改善森林生态系统分解率的预测，这是全球碳循环的一个关键过程。其次，持续的气候变化正在导致植物物种迁移；然而，许多土壤生物的体积小，传播能力有限，可能会阻止它们随着寄主植物物种的变化而改变它们的活动范围。因此，专门分解某种植物凋落叶的土壤群落可能在地理上与该植物物种脱节，这可能会改变分解速率和生态系统的碳循环。本研究将培养本科生和研究生。

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.