Different dynamics and controls of enzyme activities of leaf and root litter during decomposition

Litter enzyme dynamics are strongly shaped by litter, soil, and microbial attributes during decomposition, however, enzyme dynamics of leaf and root litter remains unresolved due to contrasting differences in rates and controls on leaf and root litter decomposition.
Herein, we conducted a 784-day field experiment to evaluate the relative importance of litter, alkaline soil, and microbial attributes to enzyme activities and their C:N:P stoichiometry of leaf and root litter during decomposition under subtropical land use change of China.
We found that only the C- and N-acquiring enzyme activities of shrub leaves were greater than those of wood and crop, and there was no significant difference in P-acquiring enzyme activity among the three species of leaves. Both the C- and P-acquiring enzyme activities of crop roots were significantly lower than those of afforested lands (i.e., woodland and shrubland). The N-acquiring activities of wood roots were significantly lower than those of shrub a..., We selected three sites with different land use types (i.e., woodland, shrubland, and cropland). At each study site, three independent 10 m × 10 m plots were selected. Each plot was located 100 m apart from one another. We conducted a 784-day in situ litter decomposition experiment, where litter from each species and site was incubated at their own site (e.g., crop litter was placed back into the cropland). In each woodland and shrubland, freshly fallen senesced leaves were collected from litter traps (1 m × 1 m). Roots (diameter ≤2 mm) were excavated using a root auger at a depth of 20 cm under each tree in the two plantations. For cropland, the leaves and roots (diameter ≤2 mm) of maize were collected after harvesting. Living roots were selected as the experimental materials based on color, luster, and elasticity. The sampled roots were placed in an incubator and transported to the laboratory. Adherent soil particles and extraneous organic material were gently removed from the root sa..., , # Different dynamics and controls of enzyme activities of leaf and root litter during decomposition

These data include a data sheet with field collected data compiled across two years. Each litter types has a unique label including leaf and root litter. All traits (i.e., β‐1,4‐glucosidase (BG, EC 3.2.1.21), the sum of the leucine aminopeptidase (LAP, EC 3.4.11), N‐acetyl‐β‐glucosaminidase (NAG, EC 3.2.1.14), acid phosphatase (AP, EC 3.1.3.2)) were determined in the laboratory by standard methods. To analyze the enzymatic C:N:P stoichiometry, the vector length (i.e., quantifying the relative C versus nutrient acquisition) was calculated as the square root of the squared sum of the values of x and y [length = Sqrt (x2 + y2)], and the vector angle (i.e., quantifying the relative P versus N acquisition) was calculated as the arctangent of the point (x, y) [angle (degrees) = degrees (Atan2(x, y))], where x represents the relative proportion of C- to C+P-acquiring enzyme activities and y rep...