Initial litter quality and climate regulate the negative effects of fauna exclusion on litter decomposition in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems: A global meta-analysis of enclosure studies

Although the exclusion effects of faunal decomposers on litter decomposition have been extensively studied in different experimental contexts, a thorough comparison of the exclusion effects of faunal decomposers with different body sizes on litter decomposition and its possible regulatory factors in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems is still lacking. Here, through a meta-analysis of 1207 pairs of observations from 110 studies in terrestrial ecosystems and 473 pairs of observations from 60 studies in aquatic ecosystems, we found that fauna exclusion reduced litter decomposition rates in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems by 30% and 44% on average, respectively. At the global scale, the exclusion effects of macrofauna and mesofauna on litter decomposition rates (reduced by 38% and 36%, respectively) were greater than that of the combination of macrofauna and mesofauna (reduced by 30%). In terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, the effects of fauna exclusion on litter decomposition rates wer..., , , # Initial litter quality and climate regulate the negative effects of fauna exclusion on litter decomposition in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems: A global meta-analysis of enclosure studies

The dataset contains 58 variables used in this meta-Analysis. \"NA\" in the dataset indicate missing data for relevant variable.

Column Units Description
Author, -- Author for reference
Country, -- Country for site
ID, -- Unique ID for each reference
exp_site, -- Unique ID for each site in reference
observations, -- Unique ID for each study in reference
latitude, °N or °S Latitude for site
longitude, °E or °W Longitude for site
Alt, m Altitude for site
MAT, °C Mean annual temperature
MAP, mm Mean annual precipitation
pre_level, -- Precipitation levels
SOC, g kg-1 Soil organic carbon
STN, g kg-1 Total soil nitrogen
Soil_C:N, -- Soil C:N ratio
PH, -- Soil pH
Water_temperature, °C Water temperature
Dissolved_O2, mg l-1 Levels of dissolved oxygen in water
Conductivity, μ s-1 cm-1 Water conductivity
NO...