Decomposition of above and belowground organ litters of mid-subtropical woody plants

Litter and its decomposition are important processes of carbon and nutrient cycles and substantially affect forest regeneration and species diversity of soil microorganisms. Interspecific variation in decomposition of litter derived from various organs, such as foliar litter, roots, and woody debris, has been increasingly researched in the past decade. In addition, plant functional traits are widely utilized to predict such variation in plant litter decomposition. Previous studies have shown that plant litter decomposability is correlated with ecological strategy in several ecosystems. Therefore, our aim is to investigate the relationship between litter decomposability and ecological strategy in subtropical areas. We analyze the litter decomposition constant (K) of above and belowground organs alter one year and two years of incubation by using the litter-bag method. Our findings show that the strategy by which plants use resources and the litter decomposability of their different organs are linked through plant functional traits. This improves our understanding of the relationships among plants, soil, and litter.