A facilitation between large herbivores and ants accelerates litter decomposition by modifying soil microenvironmental conditions

doi:10.1111/1365-2435.13812

	A facilitation between large herbivores and ants accelerates litter decomposition by modifying soil microenvironmental conditions
	Li, Xiaofei 1; Risch, Anita C.; Sanders, Dirk 3; Liu, Guofang 4; Prather, Chelse 5; Wang, Zhongnan 1; Hassan, Nazim 1; Gao, Qiang ; Wang, Deli 1; Zhong, Zhiwei 1
	2021
发表期刊	FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY
ISSN	0269-8463
卷号	35 期号:8 页码:1822-1832
摘要	Large herbivores and insects commonly coexist and play important functional roles in grassland ecosystems. The interactive effects of these two animal groups in shaping ecosystem processes and functioning are poorly understood. In a semi-arid grassland of northeastern China, we previously found a reciprocal facilitation between large herbivores (cattle; Bos tarurs) and ants: cattle grazing led to a twofold increase in ant mound abundance compared with ungrazed sites, while the presence of ant mounds, in turn, increased the foraging of cattle during the peak of the growing season. Here, by using a large-scale, 4-year (2010-2013) manipulative experiment, we further investigated how such a facilitation between large herbivores and ants can affect a key ecosystem process, litter decomposition. Using a set of small-scale reciprocal translocation litterbag experiments, we separated the effects of litter quality and soil microenvironmental factors altered by cattle and ants on litter decomposition rates. A significant interaction between the experimental factors, cattle grazing and ant presence, showed that litter decomposition rate was at the highest levels when both cattle and ants were present, with only a small impact when each was present on its own. Mechanistically, cattle and ants exerted limited effects on litter quality (litter C:N ratio). However, these animals greatly altered soil microenvironments by increasing soil N availability, which in turn increased soil microbial biomass and accelerated decomposition process. Synthesis. Our results demonstrate how positive interactions between two groups of animals, large herbivores and ants, can affect decomposition rates, with important consequences for ecosystem carbon and nutrient cycling. Large herbivores, either domestic or wild, often coexist and interact frequently with a diverse of other fauna in terrestrial ecosystems. Assessing their interactive effects will help us to better understand their role in shaping ecosystem processes and functioning with important management implications. A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.
关键词	ants facilitation herbivores litter decomposition soil microenvironment
学科领域	Ecology
DOI	10.1111/1365-2435.13812
收录类别	SCI
语种	英语
WOS研究方向	Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED)
WOS记录号	WOS:000648179500001
出版者	WILEY
文献子类	Article
出版地	HOBOKEN
EISSN	1365-2435
资助机构	Program for Introducing Talents to Universities [B16011] ; National Natural Science Foundation of China [31700357, 32061143027, 32001384, 31770520] ; Program for Innovative Research Team in University [IRT-16R11] ; National Key Research and Development Program of China [2016YFC0500602] ; Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities [2412020FZ019] ; Natural Science Foundation of Jilin Province Science and Technology Department [20200201003JC]
作者邮箱	gyt199962@163.com ; zhongzw822@nenu.edu.cn
作品OA属性	Green Accepted
引用统计	被引频次：7[WOS] [WOS记录] [WOS相关记录]
文献类型	期刊论文
条目标识符	http://ir.ibcas.ac.cn/handle/2S10CLM1/26374
专题	植被与环境变化国家重点实验室
作者单位	1.Jilin Agr Univ, Coll Resources & Environm Sci, Key Lab Sustainable Utilizat Soil Resources Commo, Changchun, Peoples R China 2.Northeast Normal Univ, Jilin Songnen Grassland Ecosyst Natl Observat & R, Key Lab Vegetat Ecol, Inst Grassland Sci, Changchun, Peoples R China 3.Risch, Anita C.] Snow & Landscape Res WSL, Swiss Fed Inst Forest, Community Ecol, Birmensdorf, Switzerland 4.Univ Exeter, Environm & Sustainabil Inst, Penryn Campus, Penryn, Cornwall, England 5.Chinese Acad Sci, Inst Bot, State Key Lab Vegetat & Environm Change, Beijing, Peoples R China 6.Univ Dayton, Dept Biol, Dayton, OH 45469 USA
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	Li, Xiaofei,Risch, Anita C.,Sanders, Dirk,et al. A facilitation between large herbivores and ants accelerates litter decomposition by modifying soil microenvironmental conditions[J]. FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY,2021,35(8):1822-1832.
APA	Li, Xiaofei.,Risch, Anita C..,Sanders, Dirk.,Liu, Guofang.,Prather, Chelse.,...&Zhong, Zhiwei.(2021).A facilitation between large herbivores and ants accelerates litter decomposition by modifying soil microenvironmental conditions.FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY,35(8),1822-1832.
MLA	Li, Xiaofei,et al."A facilitation between large herbivores and ants accelerates litter decomposition by modifying soil microenvironmental conditions".FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY 35.8(2021):1822-1832.

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