Influences of the bark economics spectrum and positive termite feedback on bark and xylem decomposition

The plant economics spectrum integrates trade-offs and covariation in resource economic traits of different plant organs and their consequences for pivotal ecosystem processes, such as decomposition. However, in this concept stems are often considered as one unit ignoring the important functional differences between wood (xylem) and bark. These differences may not only affect the performance of woody plants during their lifetime, but may also have important “afterlife effects”. Specifically, bark quality may strongly affect deadwood decomposition of different woody species. We hypothesized that i) bark quality strongly influences bark decomposability to microbial decomposers, and possibly amplifies the interspecific variation in decomposition by invertebrate consumption, especially termites; and ii) bark decomposition has secondary effects on xylem mass loss by providing access to decomposers including invertebrates such as termites. We tested these hypotheses across 34 subtropical wood...