Articles | Volume 22, issue 12
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-2959-2025
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-2959-2025
Research article
 | 
25 Jun 2025
Research article |  | 25 Jun 2025

Distinct changes in carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus cycling in the litter layer across two contrasting forest–tundra ecotones

Frank Hagedorn, Josephine Imboden, Pavel A. Moiseev, Decai Gao, Emmanuel Frossard, Patrick Schleppi, Daniel Christen, Konstantin Gavazov, and Jasmin Fetzer

Related authors

Drivers of soil organic carbon from temperate to alpine forests: a model-based analysis of the Swiss forest soil inventory with Yasso20
Claudia Guidi, Sia Gosheva-Oney, Markus Didion, Roman Flury, Lorenz Walthert, Stephan Zimmermann, Brian J. Oney, Pascal A. Niklaus, Esther Thürig, Toni Viskari, Jari Liski, and Frank Hagedorn
Biogeosciences, 22, 4107–4122, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-4107-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-4107-2025, 2025
Short summary
Conceptualising carbon cycling pathways across different land-use types based on rates and ages of soil-respired CO2
Luisa I. Minich, Dylan Geissbühler, Stefan Tobler, Annegret Udke, Alexander S. Brunmayr, Margaux Moreno Duborgel, Ciriaco McMackin, Lukas Wacker, Philip Gautschi, Negar Haghipour, Markus Egli, Ansgar Kahmen, Jens Leifeld, Timothy I. Eglinton, and Frank Hagedorn
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2267,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2267, 2025
Short summary
How does nitrogen control soil organic matter turnover and composition? – Theory and model
Chun Chung Yeung, Harald Bugmann, Frank Hagedorn, Margaux Moreno Duborgel, and Olalla Díaz-Yáñez
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1022,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1022, 2025
Short summary
Soil and stem xylem water isotope data from two pan-European sampling campaigns
Marco M. Lehmann, Josie Geris, Ilja van Meerveld, Daniele Penna, Youri Rothfuss, Matteo Verdone, Pertti Ala-Aho, Matyas Arvai, Alise Babre, Philippe Balandier, Fabian Bernhard, Lukrecija Butorac, Simon Damien Carrière, Natalie C. Ceperley, Zuosinan Chen, Alicia Correa, Haoyu Diao, David Dubbert, Maren Dubbert, Fabio Ercoli, Marius G. Floriancic, Teresa E. Gimeno, Damien Gounelle, Frank Hagedorn, Christophe Hissler, Frédéric Huneau, Alberto Iraheta, Tamara Jakovljević, Nerantzis Kazakis, Zoltan Kern, Karl Knaebel, Johannes Kobler, Jiří Kocum, Charlotte Koeber, Gerbrand Koren, Angelika Kübert, Dawid Kupka, Samuel Le Gall, Aleksi Lehtonen, Thomas Leydier, Philippe Malagoli, Francesca Sofia Manca di Villahermosa, Chiara Marchina, Núria Martínez-Carreras, Nicolas Martin-StPaul, Hannu Marttila, Aline Meyer Oliveira, Gaël Monvoisin, Natalie Orlowski, Kadi Palmik-Das, Aurel Persoiu, Andrei Popa, Egor Prikaziuk, Cécile Quantin, Katja T. Rinne-Garmston, Clara Rohde, Martin Sanda, Matthias Saurer, Daniel Schulz, Michael Paul Stockinger, Christine Stumpp, Jean-Stéphane Venisse, Lukas Vlcek, Stylianos Voudouris, Björn Weeser, Mark E. Wilkinson, Giulia Zuecco, and Katrin Meusburger
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2024-409,https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2024-409, 2024
Revised manuscript under review for ESSD
Short summary
Radiocarbon analysis reveals underestimation of soil organic carbon persistence in new-generation soil models
Alexander S. Brunmayr, Frank Hagedorn, Margaux Moreno Duborgel, Luisa I. Minich, and Heather D. Graven
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 5961–5985, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-5961-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-5961-2024, 2024
Short summary

Cited articles

Adamczyk, B., Sietiö, O. M., Straková, P., Prommer, J., Wild, B., Hagner, M., Pihlatie, M., Fritze, H., Richter, A., and Heinonsalo, J.: Plant roots increase both decomposition and stable organic matter formation in boreal forest soil, Nat. Commun., 10, 3982, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-11993-1, 2019. 
Aerts, R.: Climate, leaf litter chemistry and leaf litter decomposition in terrestrial ecosystems: a triangular relationship, Oikos, 79, 439–449, https://doi.org/10.2307/3546886, 1997. 
Asplund, J. and Wardle, D. A.: The impact of secondary compounds and functional characteristics on lichen palatability and decomposition, J. Ecol., 101, 689–700, https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.12075, 2013. 
Berg, B. and McClaugherty, C.: Decomposition as a process–some main features in plant litter: decomposition, humus formation, carbon sequestration, Springer International Publishing, Cham, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59631-6_2, 13–43, 2020. 
Brödlin, D., Kaiser, K., and Hagedorn, F.: Divergent patterns of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus mobilization in forest soils, Front. For. Glob. Chang., 2, 66, https://doi.org/10.3389/ffgc.2019.00066, 2019. 
Download
Short summary
At treeline, plant species change abruptly from low-stature plants in tundra to trees in forests. Our study documents that from tundra towards forest, the litter layer becomes strongly enriched in nutrients. We show that these litter quality changes alter nutrient processing by soil microbes and increase nutrient release during decomposition in forests compared to tundra. The associated improvement in nutrient availability in forests potentially stimulates tree growth and treeline shifts.
Share
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint