Data from: Seasonally changing interactions of species traits of termites and trees promote complementarity in coarse wood decomposition

Complementary resource use by functionally different species may
accelerate ecosystem processes. However, how co-variation in plant traits
and animal traits promotes complementarity through temporal plant-animal
interactions is poorly understood, even less so in detrital systems,
thereby hampering our fundamental understanding of decomposition and
carbon turnover. We hypothesized that, in seasonal subtropical forests
where termites are major deadwood decomposers, trait complementarity of
both termite species and tree species should promote overall deadwood
decomposition through different seasons and years. Findings from a
four-year coarse wood decomposition experiment involving 27 tree and 5
termite species support this hypothesis. Phenological and mandibular
traits of the two most abundant termite species controlled wood
decomposition of tree species differing in wood traits, through the
seasons over four years, thereby promoting overall deadwood decomposition
rates. Our findings indicate that complementarity in functional trait
co-variation in plants and animals plays an important role in carbon
cycling.