IAI-Data-CRN_012_VIVANCO_TRIA: Effect of aboveground diversity on belowground processes in Patagonia

We examined the effect of aboveground diversity on belowground
processes. Our hypothesis is that aboveground diversity produces
long-term effects on soil biota and carbon and nitrogen pools that
consequently affect decomposition. The study was conducted in an
old-growth mixed Nothofagus (southern beech) forest (40 08 S, 71 30
W), in Patagonia, Argentina. The plot was defined as the triangular
area below the intersection of the canopies of three trees. The
diversity treatments included triangles composed of three trees of a
single species N. dombeyi, N. obliqua, or N. nervosa), while high
diversity triangles consisted of the intersections of the three
different Nothofagus species. We placed litterbags with two common
litter types (Populus nigra and Gingko biloba) and with litter of the
Nothofagus species and a mixture of them within these triangles. In
high diversity triangles we also placed litterbags with litter
mixtures of 1,2,3, and 4 litter types, with 15 possible
combinations. Litterbags were collected after 43, 121 and 366 days of
incubation. The information was collected from Febrary 2003 fo January
2004 during field expeditions to San Martin, Neuqen Province,
Argentina. These data were obtained for project CRN12 (The Role of
Biodiversity and Climate in the Functioning of Ecosystems: A
Comparative Study or Grasslands, Savannas, and Forests), which has
Dr. Osvaldo E. Sala as PI.