Litter species traits, but not richness, contribute to carbon and nitrogen dynamics in an alpine meadow on the Tibetan Plateau

Litter, as afterlife of plants, plays an important role in driving belowground decomposition processes. Here we tested effects of litter species identity and diversity on carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) dynamics during litter decomposition in N-limited alpine meadow soil from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. We incubated litters of four meadow species, a sedge (S, Kobresia humilis), a grass (G, Elymus nutans), a herb (H, Saussurea superba), and a legume (L, Oxytropis falcata), in monoculture and in mixture with meadow soil. CO2 release was measured 21 times during the incubation, and soil available N and microbial biomass C and N were measured before and after the experiment. The organic C decay rate did not differ much among soils amended with monocultures or mixtures of litter, except in the H, S, L, and S+H treatments, which had much higher decay rates. Potential decomposable C pools were lowest in the control, highest in the L treatment, and intermediate in the S treatment. Mineralized N was completely immobilized by soil microbes in all treatments except the control, S+L, and S+G+L treatments. Litter mixtures had both additive and non-additive effects on CO2-C emission (mainly antagonistic effects), net N mineralization (mainly synergistic), and microbial biomass C and N (both). Overall, these parameters were not significantly correlated with litter species richness. Similarly, microbial C or N was not significantly correlated with litter N content or C/N. However, cumulative CO2-C emission and net N mineralization were positively correlated with litter N content and negatively correlated with litter C/N. Litter N content and C/N rather than litter species richness drove the release of CO2-C and net available N in this ecosystem. The antagonistic effects of litter mixtures contributed to a modest release of CO2-C, but their synergistic effects enhanced net available N. We suggest that in alpine meadow communities, balancing species with high and low N contents will benefit soil carbon sequestration and plant competition for available N with soil microbes.