Dominance by Spartina densiflora slows salt marsh litter decomposition

Abstract

Coastal vegetated systems are known to play a fundamental role in climate change mitigation as a result of their efficiency sequestering and storing atmospheric CO2. While most of the work evaluating carbon sequestration capacity has focused on global change factors that can affect carbon release from plant litter decomposition through changes in (large-scale) environmental conditions, less is known about the possible effects of the loss (or replacement) of dominant species. We hypothesized that dominant marsh plants can influence decomposition not only through changes in litter quality but also through changes in (microscale) soil environmental conditions such as humidity, soil temperature or solar radiation. Location: We performed a field manipulative experiment in a southwestern (SW) Atlantic salt marsh in Argentina. Methods: We simulate a selective disturbance (i.e., removal of the dominant grass species Spartina densiflora) thus allowing removal plots to develop an alternative plant community. To evaluate the effect of the dominant grass species on litter decomposition, in an experiment we performed a litterbag approach three years after the establishment of the removal plots. Results: Results showed that the presence of S. densiflora significantly decreased litter decomposition directly by producing less labile litter, but also by effects that seem to be related to its structure as standing dominant vegetation. The experimental removal of S. densiflora led to an alternative plant community, formed by otherwise subordinate species, which is less densely packed, allowing higher radiation incidence on the soil and elevated midday soil temperature. Conclusions: Our results suggest that salt marsh litter decomposition, and thus C sequestration, is determined in part by the identity of the dominant plant, not only because of the quality of the produced litter but also as a consequence of the vegetation structure. Changes in species diversity, above all changes in the dominant species in these coastal systems, could have large impacts on the carbon turnover and mitigation capacity of these ecosystems.