ArticleThe New phytologist2015
Fine roots are the dominant source of recalcitrant plant litter in sugar maple-dominated northern hardwood forests.
Article in The New phytologist, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 146 citations in OpenAlex.
- Environmental Conditions Modulate Warming Effects on Plant Litter Decomposition Globally.Ecology letters · 2025Pooled it
- The effects of the invasive plants on soil nematodes vary with the duration of elevated COPlant diversity · 2025Article
- Prolonged water limitation shifts the soil microbiome from copiotrophic to oligotrophic lifestyles in Scots pine mesocosms.Environmental microbiology reports · 2024Article
- Multifarious Responses of Forest Soil Microbial Community Toward Climate Change.Microbial ecology · 2023Review
- Characterizing natural variability of lignin abundance and composition in fine roots across temperate trees: a comparison of analytical methods.The New phytologist · 2022Article
- The decomposition process and nutrient release of invasive plant litter regulated by nutrient enrichment and water level change.PloS one · 2021Article
- Effects of global change factors and living roots on root litter decomposition in a Qinghai-Tibet alpine meadow.Scientific reports · 2019Article
- Plant roots increase both decomposition and stable organic matter formation in boreal forest soil.Nature communications · 2019Article
- Contrasting dynamics and trait controls in first-order root compared with leaf litter decomposition.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2018Article
- Decomposer food web in a deciduous forest shows high share of generalist microorganisms and importance of microbial biomass recycling.The ISME journal · 2018Article
- Limited Effects of Variable-Retention Harvesting on Fungal Communities Decomposing Fine Roots in Coastal Temperate Rainforests.Applied and environmental microbiology · 2018Article
- Long-Term Simulated Atmospheric Nitrogen Deposition Alters Leaf and Fine Root Decomposition.Ecosystems (New York, N.Y.) · 2018Article
- Forest Soil Bacteria: Diversity, Involvement in Ecosystem Processes, and Response to Global Change.Microbiology and molecular biology reviews : MMBR · 2017Review
- Chronic nitrogen deposition influences the chemical dynamics of leaf litter and fine roots during decomposition.Soil biology & biochemistry · 2017Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Most studies of forest litter dynamics examine the biochemical characteristics and decomposition of leaf litter, but fine roots are also a large source of litter in forests. We quantified the concentrations of eight biochemical fractions and nitrogen (N) in leaf litter and fine roots at four sugar maple (Acer saccharum)-dominated hardwood forests in the north-central United States. We combined these results with litter production data to estimate ecosystem biochemical fluxes to soil. We also compared how leaf litter and fine root biochemistry responded to long-term simulated N deposition. Compared with leaf litter, fine roots contained 2.9-fold higher acid-insoluble fraction (AIF) and 2.3-fold more condensed tannins; both are relatively difficult to decompose. Comparatively, leaf litter had greater quantities of more labile components: nonstructural carbohydrates, cellulose and soluble phenolics. At an ecosystem scale, fine roots contributed over two-thirds of the fluxes of AIF and condensed tannins to soil. Fine root biochemistry was also less responsive than leaf litter to long-term simulated N deposition. Fine roots were the dominant source of difficult-to-decompose plant carbon fractions entering the soil at our four study sites. Based on our synthesis of the literature, this pattern appears to be widespread in boreal and temperate forests.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.