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Effects Of Elevated Co2, Increased Nitrogen Deposition, And Plant Diversity On Aboveground Litter And Root Decomposition, Xiaoan Zuo, Johannes Knops

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Global change-induced litter decomposition strongly affects the carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) dynamics in grassland ecosystems. However, few studies show the interactive effects of global change factors on litter and root decomposition. We conducted a four-year grassland field experiment to examine the quality and decomposition of litter and root in a three-factorial experiment with elevated CO₂, increased N deposition, and plant species richness. We found that elevated CO₂ decreased the litter N content and root lignin content. N addition increased the root N content and decreased the litter lignin content. Increasing plant richness decreased the N and …