ARTICLE: Latitude dictates plant diversity effects on instream decomposition

An experiment conducted by over 40 research teams worldwide, and published today in Science Advances, demonstrates the importance of riparian plant diversity for leaf litter decomposition in stream ecosystems. This diversity effect is stronger in tropical streams than at higher latitudes.

Litter decomposition is a crucial process in stream ecosystems and plays a notable role in the exchange of carbon between the biosphere and atmosphere, implying potential feedbacks on climate. The globally coordinated study, released today and unprecedented in its scope, identifies plant diversity as a major influence on litter decomposition, showing that high functional litter diversity (e.g., in toughness, nutrient content, presence of toxins) stimulates decomposition more at low latitudes than in cooler climates, where consumers used the diverse resources less efficiently than in the tropics. This suggests that stream ecosystem functioning could be particularly vulnerable to forest practices that are detrimental to native tropical forests.