Leaf litter decomposer community

Microbes drive leaf litter decomposition, and their communities are adapted to reflect the local vegetation providing that litter. However, whether these local microbial communities confer a significant home-field advantage in litter decomposition remains unclear, with con-trasting results being published. Here we focus on a litter transplantation experiment from oak forests (home site) to two away sites without oak in South Tyrol (Italy).