The contribution of insects to global forest deadwood decomposition

Seibold S, Rammer W, Hothorn T, Seidl R, Ulyshen MD, Lorz J, Cadotte MW, Lindenmayer DB, Adhikari YP, Aragón R, Bae S, Baldrian P, Barimani Varandi H, Barlow J, Bässler C, Beauchêne J, Berenguer E, Bergamin RS, Birkemoe T, Boros G, Brandl R, Brustel H, Burton PJ, Cakpo-Tossou YT, Castro J, Cateau E, Cobb TP, Farwig N, Fernández RD, Firn J, Gan KS, González G, Gossner MM, Habel JC, Hébert C, Heibl C, Heikkala O, Hemp A, Hemp C, Hjältén J, Hotes S, Kouki J, Lachat T, Liu J, Liu Y, Luo YH, Macandog DM, Martina PE, Mukul SA, Nachin B, Nisbet K, O’Halloran J, Oxbrough A, Pandey JN, Pavlíček T, Pawson SM, Rakotondranary JS, Ramanamanjato JB, Rossi L, Schmidl J, Schulze M, Seaton S, Stone MJ, Stork NE, Suran B, Sverdrup-Thygeson A, Thorn S, Thyagarajan G, Wardlaw TJ, Weisser WW, Yoon S, Zhang N, Müller J (2021)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2021

Journal

Book Volume: 597

Pages Range: 77-81

Journal Issue: 7874

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-03740-8

Abstract

The amount of carbon stored in deadwood is equivalent to about 8 per cent of the global forest carbon stocks¹. The decomposition of deadwood is largely governed by climate^2–5 with decomposer groups—such as microorganisms and insects—contributing to variations in the decomposition rates^2,6,7. At the global scale, the contribution of insects to the decomposition of deadwood and carbon release remains poorly understood⁷. Here we present a field experiment of wood decomposition across 55 forest sites and 6 continents. We find that the deadwood decomposition rates increase with temperature, and the strongest temperature effect is found at high precipitation levels. Precipitation affects the decomposition rates negatively at low temperatures and positively at high temperatures. As a net effect—including the direct consumption by insects and indirect effects through interactions with microorganisms—insects accelerate the decomposition in tropical forests (3.9% median mass loss per year). In temperate and boreal forests, we find weak positive and negative effects with a median mass loss of 0.9 per cent and −0.1 per cent per year, respectively. Furthermore, we apply the experimentally derived decomposition function to a global map of deadwood carbon synthesized from empirical and remote-sensing data, obtaining an estimate of 10.9 ± 3.2 petagram of carbon per year released from deadwood globally, with 93 per cent originating from tropical forests. Globally, the net effect of insects may account for 29 per cent of the carbon flux from deadwood, which suggests a functional importance of insects in the decomposition of deadwood and the carbon cycle.

Authors with CRIS profile

Involved external institutions

Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg Germany (DE) Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) Brazil (BR) Mazandaran Agricultural and Natural Resources Research Center Iran, Islamic Republic of (IR) University of Zurich / Universität Zürich (UZH) Switzerland (CH) Ecole d'Ingénieurs de PURPAN France (FR) Universidad Nacional de Tucumán (UNT) Argentina (AR) Australian National University (ANU) Australia (AU) Wissenschaftszentrum Weihenstephan für Ernährung, Landnutzung und Umwelt Germany (DE) United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) United States (USA) (US) Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE) India (IN) University of the Sunshine Coast Australia (AU) Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences / Sveriges Lantbruksuniversitet (SLU) Sweden (SE) Griffith University Australia (AU) Eidgenössische Forschungsanstalt für Wald, Schnee und Landschaft (WSL) Switzerland (CH) University of Eastern Finland Finland (FI) East China Normal University (ECNU) / 华东师范大学 China (CN) Chuo University / 中央大学 Japan (JP) Scion / New Zealand Forest Research Institute Limited New Zealand (NZ) Philipps-Universität Marburg Germany (DE) University College Cork (UCC) Ireland (IE) Universität Bayreuth Germany (DE) Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) / Institut Penyelidikan Perhutanan Malaysia Malaysia (MY) Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (ASCR) / Akademie věd České republiky (AVČR) Czech Republic (CZ) Lancaster Environment Centre United Kingdom (GB) Universität Hamburg (UHH) Germany (DE) International Institute of Tropical Forestry (IITF) United States (USA) (US) Université des Antilles France (FR) São Paulo State University / Universidade Estadual Paulista "Júlio de Mesquita Filho" (UNESP) Brazil (BR) Universidad de Granada Spain (ES) Kunming Institute of Botany (KIB, KIBCAS) / 昆明植物研究所 China (CN) University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) Philippines (PH) Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU) Norway (NO) University of Haifa / אוניברסיטת חיפה Israel (IL) Eurofins Ahma Oy Finland (FI) University of Tasmania (UTAS) Australia (AU) Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main Germany (DE) University of Toronto Canada (CA) University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC) Canada (CA) H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest United States (USA) (US) Universität Salzburg (Paris Lodron Universität Salzburg) Austria (AT) Tribhuvan University / त्रिभुवन विश्वविद्यालय Nepal (NP) Canadian Forest Service (CFS) / Service canadien des forêts Canada (CA) Beijing Forestry University / 北京林业大学 China (CN) Nationalparkverwaltung Bayerischer Wald Germany (DE) National University of the Northeast / Universidad Nacional del Nordeste Argentina (AR) National University of Mongolia Mongolia (MN) Université d'Abomey-Calavi Benin (BJ) Murdoch University Australia (AU) Queensland University of Technology (QUT) Australia (AU) Royal Alberta Museum (RAM) Canada (CA) Edge Hill University United Kingdom (GB) Ecobank Transnational Incorporated Togo (TG)

How to cite

APA:

Seibold, S., Rammer, W., Hothorn, T., Seidl, R., Ulyshen, M.D., Lorz, J.,... Müller, J. (2021). The contribution of insects to global forest deadwood decomposition. Nature, 597(7874), 77-81. https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03740-8

MLA:

Seibold, Sebastian, et al. "The contribution of insects to global forest deadwood decomposition." Nature 597.7874 (2021): 77-81.

BibTeX: Download