SynthesisNature communications2020
A meta-analysis on decomposition quantifies afterlife effects of plant diversity as a global change driver.
Synthesis in Nature communications, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 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
19 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Pooled it
- Assessing Pollinator Community Recovery in Restored Agroecosystems Using the Recovery Debt Framework.Global change biology · 2026Article
- Litter Mixing Effects Modulate UV-Induced Photodegradation Across Grasslands.Global change biology · 2026Article
- Soil Fauna Alter the Relationship Between Plant Litter Diversity and Microbial Communities in Mixed Litter Decomposition.Ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- Plant diversity and precipitation gradients drive litter return and SOC in alpine vegetation.Carbon balance and management · 2025Article
- Root mixing effects on belowground decomposition depend on mycorrhizal type.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Sugar Maple Litter Decay Rates Are Reduced More Strongly by Drought Than by American Beech Proliferation in the Understory.Ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- The invasion of Cassytha filiformis accelerated the litter decomposition of native plant communities in small tropical coral islands.BMC plant biology · 2025Article
- A novel decomposer-exploiter interaction framework of plant residue microbial decomposition.Genome biology · 2025Article
- Effects of even- versus uneven-aged tree species (Frontiers in microbiology · 2025Article
- Soil microbiome composition is highly responsive to precipitation and plant composition manipulations in a field biodiversity experiment.Frontiers in microbiomes · 2025Article
- Climate Effects on Belowground Tea Litter Decomposition Depend on Ecosystem and Organic Matter Types in Global Wetlands.Environmental science & technology · 2024Article
- Biodiversity loss reduces global terrestrial carbon storage.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Biodiversity mitigates drought effects in the decomposer system across biomes.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Article
- The synergistic effects of a leaf mixture on decomposition change with a period of terrestrial exposure prior to immersion in a stream.Ecology and evolution · 2024Article
- Perspective: sustainability challenges, opportunities and solutions for long-term ecosystem observations.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2023Review
- Rapid differentiation of soil and root microbiomes in response to plant composition and biodiversity in the field.ISME communications · 2023Article
- Density Alters Impacts of Genotypic Evenness on Productivity in an Experimental Plant Population.Frontiers in plant science · 2022Article
- Mixed-litter effects of fresh leaf semi-decomposed litter and fine root on soil enzyme activity and microbial community in an evergreen broadleaf karst forest in southwest China.Frontiers in plant science · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Biodiversity loss can alter ecosystem functioning; however, it remains unclear how it alters decomposition-a critical component of biogeochemical cycles in the biosphere. Here, we provide a global-scale meta-analysis to quantify how changes in the diversity of organic matter derived from plants (i.e. litter) affect rates of decomposition. We find that the after-life effects of diversity were significant, and of substantial magnitude, in forests, grasslands, and wetlands. Changes in plant diversity could alter decomposition rates by as much as climate change is projected to alter them. Specifically, diversifying plant litter from mono- to mixed-species increases decomposition rate by 34.7% in forests worldwide, which is comparable in magnitude to the 13.6-26.4% increase in decomposition rates that is projected to occur over the next 50 years in response to climate warming. Thus, biodiversity changes cannot be solely viewed as a response to human influence, such as climate change, but could also be a non-negligible driver of future changes in biogeochemical cycles and climate feedbacks on Earth.
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.