Study
Biodiversity and litter decomposition in terrestrial ecosystems
Hättenschwiler, Stephan; Tiunov, Alexei V.; Scheu, Stefan
Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics, 2005
Reviews how the diversity of litter types and of decomposer organisms affects decomposition rate, including experiments mixing litter species and manipulating decomposer community composition.
- Studied in
- Plantae, Fungi, Animalia
- Sample size
- review of litter decomposition and diversity experiments
Mixing litter species frequently produces decomposition rates that differ from those predicted by the species alone, in both directions. Decomposer diversity effects are generally weaker than substrate chemistry effects, and the mechanisms behind mixture effects are not resolved.
What it means
The authors' reading, and ours. Where they differ, that difference is the point.
How the authors put it
Litter decomposition is shaped by substrate chemistry, decomposer community and their interaction, and simple additive predictions from single-species litter often fail.
How NatureHQ reads it
Useful for keeping the site honest about a tidy story. Decomposition is often taught as a property of the material — this leaf rots fast, that one slowly — and mixture experiments show the rate for a leaf can change depending on what is lying next to it. That the direction is not predictable is the finding, not a gap in the review.
- Mixture effects vary in direction and magnitude between experiments, and the mechanism is unresolved.
- Most experiments run over months to a few years, which is short relative to the slow fraction of decomposition.
What this study is used for on NatureHQ
One study can inform several subjects. Here is everywhere this one is cited.
Detritus
Decomposers — fungi and bacteria — break molecules apart chemically, outside their bodies. Detritivores are animals that eat dead material and make the pieces smaller, digesting little of it themselves.
Detritus
Mix litter from different species and decomposition often runs faster or slower than the leaves alone would predict. Which direction is not reliably predictable, and that is the finding rather than a gap.
Decomposition
Decomposition is usually taught as climate first, litter chemistry second, soil organisms last. A coordinated multi-site experiment found local soil conditions and communities explaining more than that ordering permits.
Published by: Annual ReviewsPublished in an Annual Reviews journal.
doi.org/10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.36.112904.151932
Checked against Crossref on 2026-09-28, and they agree on the title, the authors and the year.
NatureHQ summarises research in its own words and does not reproduce published text. Reviewed 2026-09-04.