Supplement 1. Data set and list of references compiled.

File List
DataSet.txt

ReferenceList.txt

DescriptionNotes relevant to the data set compiled:

1. Columns correspond to:

1st column: Reference

2nd column:  Community
type

3rd column: Ecosystem
type

4th column: Net primary
production (NPP); in gC m-2 yr-1

5th column: Leaf production
(leaf P); in gC m-2 yr-1

6th column: Detrital
production (DP); in gC m-2 yr-1

7th column: Leaf detrital
production (leaf DP); in gC m-2 yr-1

8th column: Decomposition
(D); in gC m-2 yr-1

9th column: Biomass
of detritus consumers (DB); in gC m-2

10th column: Consumption
by herbivores (H); in gC m-2 yr-1

11th column: Percentage
of production consumed by herbivores (%NPP consumed)

12th column: Herbivore
biomass (HB); in gC m-2

13th column: Total
consumption by first-order consumers (TC); in gC m-2 yr-1

14th column: Carbon
accumulation (CA); in gC m-2 yr-1

15th column: Nitrogen
concentration in producer biomass (Nbiomass); in % of dry weight

16th column: Phosphorus
concentration in producer biomass (Pbiomass); in % of dry weight

17th column: Decomposition
rate (k); in day-1

18th column: Nitrogen
concentration in producer detritus (Ndetritus); in % of dry weight

19th column: Phosphorus
concentration in producer detritus (Pdetritus); in % of dry weight

20th column: Producer
nitrogen concentration used in the regressions vs. Detrital Production and
Decomposition (Ndp); in % of dry weight- see note 5

21st column: Producer
phosphorus concentration used in the regressions vs. Detrital Production and
Decomposition (Pdp); in % of dry weight- see note 5  

2. Cells with a dot and no numbers
denote variables not provided in the reports.

3. Entries marked with # contain
our indirect estimates of net primary production, and entries marked with @
our indirect estimates of decomposition, with the highest uncertainty, which
still seems unimportant for the results obtained (see text).

 4. Reports of communities dominated
by rooted macrophytes (i.e., freshwater macrophyte meadows, seagrass meadows
and terrestrial communities) having an asterisk (*) include both the above-
(leaves and stems) and belowground (roots) compartments.  Reports with two asterisks
(**) only include the belowground compartment, and reports with no asterisk
refer to the aboveground compartment.

5. We did not find many reports
with concomitant values of detrital production and nutrient concentrations in
producer detritus, or values of decomposition and nutrient concentrations in
producer detritus.  Therefore, to test the independence between detrital production
and producer nutritional quality (Fig. 8), and between decomposition and producer
nutritional quality (Fig. 10), we used values of nutrient concentration in producer
biomass or detritus indistinctly (columns 20th and 21st). The results should
be similar to those obtained if we had only used concentrations in producer
detritus, because, for a given type of ecosystem, nutrient concentrations do
not differ between producer biomass and detritus (see Figs. 1b,c and 6c,d).

6. In the reports marked with ¶,
decomposition rates refer to leaves.  Hence, in those reports values of leaf
detrital production have been used for the relationship between decomposition
rates and detrital production (Fig. 11b).  Values of total detrital production
(both above- and belowground if marked with one asterisk, or only aboveground
if marked with no asterisk) have been used for all the other relationships and
Figs. (except for Megonigal and Day [1988], see note 8).

7. In the reports marked with $,
decomposition rates referring to different compartments (e.g., leaves and stems;
above- and belowground) have been weighted and averaged into a single value
for the relationship between decomposition rates and detrital production (Fig.
11b).  Similarly, in the same reports values of nutrient concentration in producer
detritus referring to different compartments have been weighted and averaged
into a single value for the relationships between producer nutrient concentration
and detrital production (Fig. 8)  and producer nutrient concentration and decomposition
(Fig. 10).  Thus, to avoid redundancies, those mean values have been ignored
in the histograms (Figs. 6c,d, and e) and relationship between decomposition
rates and detritus nutrient concentrations (Fig. 9).

8. In the terrestrial reference
Megonigal and Day (1988), values of producer nutrient concentrations refer to
leaves.  Hence, in this report values of leaf detrital production have also
been used in the relationship between detrital production and producer nutrient
concentrations (Fig. 8).

9. In the terrestrial reference
McNaughton (1985), values of net primary production in parentheses include both
the above- and belowground compartments, whereas those with no parentheses refer
to the aboveground compartment only.  The aboveground values have been used
in this paper.