03001nas a2200253 4500008004100000022001400041245011000055210006900165260001500234300001000249490000700259520216300266653003702429653002202466653002502488653003502513653002302548100001702571700002102588700001902609700002102628700002602649856007202675 2020 eng d a1439-179100aDo litter-feeding macroarthropods disrupt cascading effects of land use on microbial decomposer activity?0 aDo litterfeeding macroarthropods disrupt cascading effects of la c14/03/2020 a24-340 v463 a

Plant traits are known to control litter decomposition rates through afterlife effects on litter quality. Land-use practices that modify plant traits, e.g. livestock grazing and soil fertilization, also have cascading effects on litter decomposition. However, almost all studies of these afterlife effects ignored the role of soil detritivores in the decomposition processes. We explored how the feeding activities of a macroarthropod modify microbial activity in leaf litter. Dead leaves from two grassland species, Bromopsis erecta and Potentilla verna, were collected in fertilized or unfertilized grazed plots and fertilized or unfertilized ungrazed plots. We determined how intraspecific variation in litter quality in response to sheep grazing and soil fertilization (i) influences the consumption and assimilation of leaf litter by the millipede Glomeris marginata, and (ii) affects the activity of microbial decomposers, assessed by substrate-induced respiration (SIR), in leaf litter before consumption and in faecal pellets and litter remains processed by Glomeris under all treatments. In the absence of millipedes, microbial activity was significantly higher in leaf litter from fertilized plots. Glomeris consumed larger amounts of leaf litter from fertilized grazed plots, owing to increased consumption of the otherwise poorly palatable Bromopsis, and produced larger amounts of faecal pellets when fed on this food. However, irrespective of the food consumed, SIR in faecal pellets was found to be similar in all treatments. Moreover, SIR in litter remains unconsumed at the end of the experiment was reduced to low and similar levels in all treatments. Overall, homogenization of microbial activity by Glomeris suppressed differences in SIR between leaf litter from fertilized and unfertilized plots, in both Bromopsis and Potentilla. Our results suggest that studies that assess afterlife effects of plant traits on decomposition using methods that exclude soil macrofauna may prove inadequate in ecosystems with abundant populations of detritivores.

10aAboveground-belowground linkages10aAfterlife effects10aLitter decomposition10aLitter-feeding macroarthropods10aMicrobial activity1 aCoq, Sylvain1 aNahmani, Johanne1 aKazakou, Elena1 aFromin, Nathalie1 aDavid, Jean-François uhttps://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1439179120300335