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Life after death: the role of litter in ecosystems.

Edited by Ken Thompson
DECEMBER 2011

Plant organs die, and ultimately whole plants die, but dead plant material, or litter, continues to have powerful effects on ecosystems, driving nutrient turnover, soil formation and atmospheric composition. Soil properties in turn have strong impacts on plant community composition, diversity and productivity.

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Cover photograph credit: Eric Chauvet

Gregarious flowering and death of understorey bamboo slow litter decomposition and nitrogen turnover in a southern temperate forest in Patagonia, Argentina
A.T. Austin and V.A. Marchesini

Leaf economics traits predict litter decomposition of tropical plants and differ among land use types
M.A. Bakker, G. Carreno-Rocabado and L. Poorter

Litter diversity, fungal decomposers and litter decomposition under simulated stream intermittency
A. Bruder, E. Chauvet and M.O. Gessner

Leaf pH as a plant trait: species-driven rather than soil-driven variation
J.H.C. Cornelissen, F. Sibma, R.S.P. Van Logtestijn, R.A. Broekman and K. Thompson

Snail and millipede complementarity in decomposing Mediterranean forest leaf litter mixtures
T. De Oliveira, S. Haettenschwiler and I.T. Handa

A plant economics spectrum of litter decomposability
G.T. Freschet, R. Aerts and J.H.C. Cornelissen

Integrated screening validates primary axes of specialisation in plants
J.P. Grime, K. Thompson, R. Hunt, et al

N : P ratios influence litter decomposition and colonization by fungi and bacteria in microcosms
S. Guesewell and M.O. Gessner

Biogeography of litter depth in tropical forests: evaluating the phosphorus growth rate hypothesis
M. Kaspari and S.P. Yanoviak

Plant traits, leaf palatability and litter decomposability for co-occurring woody species differing in invasion status and nitrogen fixation ability
H. Kurokawa, D.A. Peltzer and D.A. Wardle