ArticleOecologia2021
Mycorrhizal roots slow the decay of belowground litters in a temperate hardwood forest.
Article in Oecologia, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
What it found
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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.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 19 citations in OpenAlex.
- Soil environmental changes drive root decomposition under acid and nitrogen deposition in Chinese fir plantation, China.BMC plant biology · 2026Article
- Secondary Decomposers Meet Their Predators: Decomposition Stage and Substrate Quality Jointly Structure Microbial Brown Food Webs During Fungal Necromass Decay.Molecular ecology · 2025Article
- Fungi rather than bacteria drive early mass loss from fungal necromass regardless of particle size.Environmental microbiology reports · 2024Article
- Root litter decomposition is suppressed in species mixtures and in the presence of living roots.The Journal of ecology · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
There is increasing evidence that plant roots and mycorrhizal fungi, whether living or dead, play a central role in soil carbon (C) cycling. Root-mycorrhizal-microbial interactions can both suppress and enhance litter decay, with the net result dependent upon belowground nutrient acquisition strategies and soil nutrient availability. We measured the net effect of living roots and mycorrhizal fungi on the decay of dead roots and fungal hyphae in a hardwood forest dominated by either sugar maple (Acer saccharum) or white oak (Quercus alba) trees. Root and fungal litter were allowed to decompose within root-ingrowth bags and root-exclusion cores. In conjunction with root effects on decay, we assessed foraging responses and root induced changes in soil moisture, nitrogen (N) availability and enzyme activity. After 1 year, maple root production increased, and mycorrhizal fungal colonization decreased in the presence of decaying litter. In addition, we found that actively foraging roots suppressed the decay of root litter (- 14%) more than fungal litter (- 3%), and suppression of root decay was stronger for oak (- 20%) than maple roots (- 8%). Suppressive effects of oak roots on decay were greatest when roots also reduced soil N availability, which corresponded with reductions in hydrolytic enzyme activity and enhanced oxidative enzyme activities. These findings further our understanding of context-dependent drivers of root-mycorrhizal-microbial interactions and demonstrate that such interactions can play an underappreciated role in soil organic matter accumulation and turnover in temperate forests.
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Registered trials
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