From: Soil fauna accelerate litter mixture decomposition globally, especially in dry environments

More than half of net primary production in terrestrial ecosystems returns to the soil through leaf litter fall and decomposition. In terrestrial ecosystems, litter constitutes a mixture of mainly senescent foliage from multiple species. Yet, the effect of litter mixing on litter decomposition rate remains ambiguous. Quantification of the soil fauna contribution and inclusion of their interaction with litter could remove the prevailing ambiguity, as soil fauna might influence the direction and magnitude of litter mixture effects on decomposition.

We carried out a global meta-analysis to elucidate how soil fauna influenced litter mixture decomposition rate based on 55 published studies with 873 fauna inclusion/exclusion comparisons in field litterbag experiments. We hypothesized that soil fauna inclusion in litter mixture experiments would cause a positive change in the magnitude of mixed litter decomposition. That is, the presence of soil fauna would lead to synergistic litter mixtur...