Does manganese influence grass litter decomposition on a Hawaiian rainfall gradient?
Elizabeth L Paulus, Peter M Vitousek · 2024
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Description
Elizabeth Paulus and Peter Vitousek ask whether manganese shapes grass litter breakdown in a 2024 field and lab study from Hawai'i. In temperate forests, manganese clearly drives litter decomposition, but no similar test existed for grasslands, where the metal can come from leaves or from soil.
The work ran along the Kohala rainfall gradient, where one grass species dominates the litter pool. Chemical imaging showed manganese oxidizing on the litter as it decayed, a hallmark of metal-driven breakdown. Yet more manganese did not mean faster mass loss. The authors conclude that the metal's role in the carbon cycle does not rest on abundance alone.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Elizabeth L Paulus, Peter M Vitousek |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2024 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 36 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |