Dose–responses for solar radiation exposure reveal high sensitivity of microbial decomposition to changes in plant litter quality that occur during photodegradation

What is it about?

Exposure of senescent plant material (litter) to sunlight can be important in accelerating carbon release from terrestrial ecosystems. We show through a two-phase experiment that there are linear dose-response relationships with sunlight exposure for plant litter decomposition in terrestrial ecosystems, demonstrating that changes in litter quality and biotic stimulation of carbon turnover are directly related to the amount of sunlight received by the plant litter.

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