Soil microbial identity explains home-field advantage for litter decomposition

Abstract

Unraveling the mechanisms of home-field advantage (HFA) is essential to gain a complete understanding of litter decomposition processes. However, knowledge of the relationships between HFA effects and microbial communities is lacking. To examine HFA effects on litter decomposition, we identified the microbial communities and conducted a reciprocal transplant experiment, including all possible combinations of soil and litter, between sites at two elevations in cool-temperate forests. Soil origin, rather than HFA, was an important factor in controlling litter decomposition processes. Microbiome-wide association analyses identified litter fungi and bacteria specific to the source soil, which completely differed at a low taxonomic level between litter types. The relative abundance of these microbes specific to source soil was positively correlated with litter mass loss. The results indicated that the unique relationships between plant litter and soil microbes through plant–soil linkages drive litter decomposition processes. In the short term, soil disturbances resulting from land-use changes have the potential to disrupt the effect of soil origin and hinder the advancement of litter decomposition. These findings contribute to an understanding of HFA mechanisms and the impacts of land-use change on decomposition processes in forest ecosystems.