Increases in nitrogen (N) availability reduce decay rates of highly lignified plant litter. Although microbial responses to N addition are well documented, the chemical mechanisms that may give rise ...

Globally, soils contain three times as much carbon as exists in the atmosphere and all plants, combined. Which means that ...

Globally, soils contain three times as much carbon as exists in the atmosphere and all plants, combined. Which means that ...

Climate change-induced rainfall reductions in Mediterranean forests negatively affect the decomposition of plant litter through decreased soil moisture. However, the indirect effects of reduced ...

Organic carbon decomposition in soil varies significantly and in regional patterns, driven in part by factors such as soil minerals and microbial properties that have been underrepresented in carbon ...

An isopod, well-adapted to the harsh conditions of arid-lands, crawls on the desert floor in search of plant litter. New study reveals that in arid ecosystems, larger arthropods such as termites and ...

Tundra voles are among the small mammals Dr. Phil Manlick, with the U.S. Forest Service, studies to understand how warming is changing boreal and Arctic food webs. Tiny organisms are making big moves ...

In a breakthrough finding, scientists have identified a group of microbes that are found on dead bodies at specific points during decomposition, enabling the calculation of a time of death much more ...