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Invasive plant species can alter litter decomposition rates through changes in litter quality, environment conditions, and decomposer organisms (microflora and soil fauna), but limited research has examined their direct impact on soil fauna. We assessed the abundance and relative contribution of soil meso- and macrofauna to litter decomposition in a forest invaded by Ligustrum lucidum W.T. Aiton and in a noninvaded forest in a subtropical mountain forest in northwestern Argentina, using litterbags (0.01, 2, and 6 mm mesh size). Additionally, we analyzed the litter quality and soil properties of both forest types. Soil fauna abundance was lower in the invaded forest than in the noninvaded forest. The contribution of soil macrofauna to litter decomposition was important in both forest types, but soil mesofauna contribution was significant only in noninvaded forest. Litter decomposition was significantly faster in the invaded forest, consistent with its higher quality litter compared with the uninvaded forest. Invaded forest had significantly lower litter accumulation, lower soil moisture, and greater soil pH than noninvaded forest. Our results showed that although soil fauna was less abundant and played a less pronounced role in litter decomposition in invaded forest, these changes did not translate into a reduced litter decomposition rate due to the higher quality of litter produced in the invaded forest.

Fil: Vaieretti, Maria Victoria. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas. Centro Cientifico Tecnologico Conicet - Cordoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biologia Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Cordoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Fisicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biologia Vegetal; Argentina

Fil: Moreno, Maria L.. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas. Centro Cientifico Tecnologico Conicet - Cordoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biologia Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Cordoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Fisicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biologia Vegetal; Argentina. Universidad Empresarial Siglo XXI; Argentina

In most temperate grasslands, cattle grazing can promote physiognomic changes on plant communities, as well as changes in species growth patterns. Through these changes in vegetation, cattle grazing can generate changes in allocation to total, fine and coarse root biomass, which can further affect ecosystem processes. The objective of this work was to evaluate differences in root biomass, in the proportions of fine and coarse root biomass and in root C:N ratio across physiognomies from 0 to 30 cm. We selected plots of grazing lawns (associated to relatively high stocking rates), and plots of thin and thick tussock grasslands (associated to relatively low stocking rates) within the Pampa de Achala system in central Argentina. We found that total, coarse, and fine root biomass were highest in grazing lawns, intermediate in thin tussock grasslands, and lowest in thick tussock grasslands. Thick tussock grasslands showed the highest relative proportion of fine roots while root C:N ratio did not vary among physiognomies. Higher root biomass in lawns was probably caused by the dominance of species that allocate more biomass to roots than to shoots, as well as by the complementarity of soil resource extraction and by compensatory root growth in response to herbivory. In addition, and contrary to what was expected based on their above-ground attributes, thick tussock grasslands presented higher proportion of fine roots, which suggests a more acquisitive resource use strategy. However, root C:N from thick tussock grasslands did not differ from other physiognomies which might indicate there are not clear differences in below-ground resource use strategies. Our results show that grassland root biomass in this study system can increase in patches associated to higher cattle grazing due to changes in plant composition and physiognomy, while changes in root quality seem to be uncoupled from the above-ground traits. Fil: Sarquis, Agustín. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisiológicas y Ecológicas Vinculadas a la Agricultura. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisiológicas y Ecológicas Vinculadas a la Agricultura; Argentina Fil: Pestoni, Sofía. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; Argentina Fil: Cingolani, Ana María. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; Argentina Fil: Pérez Harguindeguy, Natalia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; Argentina

Recent field experiments show how photodegradation and its legacy, increased microbial access to labile carbohydrates (photofacilitation), double rates of C loss to the atmosphere in a Mediterranean-type climate. The mechanisms demonstrated have implications for global C modeling beyond Mediterranean ecosystems. Fil: Pérez Harguindeguy, Natalia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; Argentina

Se compararon cuatro métodos de dispersión de suelos, ampliamente utilizados en protocolos de fraccionamiento físico, sobre un Molisol de pastizales montañosos del centro de Argentina. La proporción de las fracciones fina y gruesa del suelo varió significativamente entre métodos. Debido a que las fracciones minerales post dispersión con bolitas de vidrio no difirieron del resultado del análisis granulométrico, este método mostró los mejores resultados, por sobre la sonicación y el agitado con dispersante químico, para los suelos evaluados. Fil: Pestoni, Sofía. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; Argentina Fil: Gallardo, Norma. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; Argentina Fil: Pérez Harguindeguy, Natalia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; Argentina Fil: Kowaljow, Esteban. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; Argentina

Ecosystem services research in Latin America has been steadily growing and has advanced conceptual understandings, methodological approaches, and global policy applications. One key element for the success of ecosystem services research is expanding collaboration across disciplines, countries, and sectors. This paper sets thestage for the special issue on The state of the art of Ecosystem Services Research and Practice in Latin Americathat resulted from such collaborations and the resulting insights. To do so we: 1 - present a recent overview ofecosystem services research in Latin America, 2 - assess the role of the network organizing InternationalCongresses on Ecosystem Services in the Neotropics (CISEN, from its initials in Spanish) in fostering collaborations across countries, sectors, research topics, and disciplines, 3 - describe how this special issue wasconceived and operationalized to further break collaboration silos and advance understanding, and 4 - presentan overview of the papers included in this special issue. Finally, we discuss the challenges and opportunities forfuture contribution of Latin American research to the rapidly evolving Ecosystem Services literature. Fil: Balvanera, Patricia. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; México Fil: Pérez Harguindeguy, Natalia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; Argentina Fil: Perevochtchikova, María. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; México Fil: Laterra, Pedro. Fundación Bariloche; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina Fil: Caceres, Daniel Mario. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Agropecuarias. Departamento de Desarrollo Rural; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina

The context of Open Biological Ontologies; (ii) whenever possible, the Entities and Qualities aretaken from existing terminology standards, mainly the Plant Ontology (PO) and Phenotypic QualityOntology (PATO) ontologies; and (iii) whenever a characteristic already has a definition, if appropriate,it is reused and referenced. The development of TOP, which complies with semantic web principles,was carried out through the involvement of experts from both the ecology and the semanticsresearch communities. Regular updates of TOP are planned, based on community feedback andinvolvement.3. TOP provides names, definitions, units, synonyms and related terms for about 850 plant characteristics.TOP is available online (www.top-thesaurus.org), and can be browsed using an alphabeticallist of characteristics, a hierarchical tree of characteristics, a faceted and a free-text search, andthrough an Application Programming Interface.4. Synthesis. Harmonizing definitions of concepts, as proposed by TOP, forms the basis for betterintegration of data across heterogeneous data sets and terminologies, thereby increasing the potentialfor data reuse. It also allows enhanced scientific synthesis. TOP therefore has the potential toimprove research and communication not only within the field of ecology, but also in related fieldswith interest in plant functioning and distribution Fil: Garnier, Eric. Université de Montpellier. Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive; Francia Fil: Stahl, Ulrike. German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research; Alemania. Max-Planck-Institute for Biogeochemistry; Alemania. Department of Community Ecology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research; Alemania Fil: Laporte, Marie-Angelique. Université de Montpellier. Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive; Francia. German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research; Alemania. Bioversity International; Italia Fil: Kattge, Jens. Max-Planck-Institute for Biogeochemistry; Alemania. German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research; Alemania Fil: Mougenot, Isabelle. Maison de la Télédétection; Francia Fil: Kuhn, Ingolf. German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research; Alemania Fil: Laporte, Baptiste. Centre for the Synthesis and Analysis of Biodiversity; Francia Fil: Amiaud, Bernard. Université de Lorraine; Francia Fil: Ahrestani, Farshid S.. Columbia University; Estados Unidos Fil: Bonisch, Gerhard. Max-Planck-Institute for Biogeochemistry; Alemania Fil: Bunker, Daniel E.. New Jersey Institute of Technology. Department of Biological Sciences; Estados Unidos Fil: Cornelissen, Johannes H. C.. Vrije Universteit; Países Bajos Fil: Díaz, Sandra Myrna. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; Argentina Fil: Enquist, Brian J.. University of Arizona; Estados Unidos Fil: Gachet, Sophie. Avignon Université Avignon Université. Institut Méditerranéen de Biodiversité et d'Ecologie marine et continentale; Francia Fil: Jaureguiberry, Pedro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; Argentina Fil: Kleyer, Michael. University of Oldenburg. Institute of Biology and Environmental Sciences; Alemania Fil: Lavorel, Sandra. Université Joseph Fourier; Francia Fil: Maicher, Lutz. Universitat Jena; Alemania Fil: Pérez Harguindeguy, Natalia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; Argentina Fil: Poorter, Hendrik. Forschungszentrum Jülich; Alemania Fil: Schildhauer, Mark. University of California. National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis; Estados Unidos Fil: Shipley, Bill. Université de Sherbrooke; Canadá Fil: Violle, Cyrille. Université de Montpellier; Francia Fil: Weiher, Evan. University of Wisconsin; Estados Unidos Fil: Wirth, Christian. German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research; Alemania Fil: Wright, Ian J.. Macquarie University; Australia Fil: Klotz, Stefan. Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research; Alemania

It is increasingly recognized that understanding the functional consequences of landscape change requires knowledge of aboveground and belowground processes and their interactions. For this reason, we provide novel information addressing insect herbivory and edge effects on litter quality and decomposition in fragmented subtropical dry forests in central Argentina. Using litter from Croton lachnostachyus (a common shrub species in the region) in a decomposition bed experiment, we evaluated whether litter quality (carbon and nitrogen content; carbon: nitrogen ratio) and decomposability (percentage of remaining dry weight) differ between litter from forest interiors or edges (origin) and with or without herbivory (damaged/undamaged leaves). We found that edge/interior origin had a strong effect on leaf litter quality (mainly on carbon content), while herbivory was associated with a smaller increase in nitrogen content. Herbivore damage increased leaf litter decomposability, but this effect was related to origin during the initial period of litter incubation. Overall, undamaged leaf litter from the forest edge showed the lowest decomposability, whereas damaged leaf litter decomposed at rates similar to those observed in litter from the forest interior. The interacting edge and herbivory effects on leaf litter quality and decomposability shown in our study are important because of the increasing dominance of forest edges in human-modified landscapes and the profound effect of leaf litter decomposition on nutrient cycling. Fil: Moreno, Maria Laura. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; Argentina Fil: Rossetti, María Rosa. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; Argentina Fil: Pérez Harguindeguy, Natalia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; Argentina Fil: Valladares, Graciela Rosa. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; Argentina

This article is a Commentary on Kazakou et al., 224 : 1532-1543. Starting in the 1970s, plant community ecology was significantlytransformed from a descriptive to a predictive science, particularlydue to the development of assembly rules for plant species (Keddy,1992;i.e.rules thatspecifiedwhichsubsetofspeciesfromtheregionalpool would tolerate specific conditions and form a community). Anunexpected outfall of this transition was that researchers working inplant community ecology somehow lost interest in intraspecificvariation to focus almost exclusively on interspecific differencesbetween co-occurring species (Violle et al., 2012). With the rise ofplant functional ecology, which links the conceptual frameworks ofcommunity and ecosystem ecology, the emphasis on interspecificdifferences deepened. Almost 20 yr later, however, studies haveshown how variation within species may also feedback on communities and ecosystems as part of evolutionary processes operating atecological scales (https://natureecoevocommunity.nature.com/users/71845-simone-des-roches/posts/26332-how-variation-within-specieslinks-ecology-and-evolution). This recent evidence has revivedinterest in intraspecific variability as part of the links betweenenvironment, evolution, communities and ecosystems (Violleet al., 2012). However, in spite of the relevance of those links forsome of the core assumptions on which plant functional ecology isbuilt (Calow, 1987), we still understand relatively little about theevolutionary mechanisms behind them. Fil: Pérez Harguindeguy, Natalia. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales. Departamento de Diversidad Biológica y Ecológica; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; Argentina Fil: Gorne, Lucas Damián. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; Argentina

Biodiversity plays a pivotal role in forest productivity and, through it, on the provision of ecosystem services. Consequently, understanding the mechanisms by which biodiversity drives productivity is a challenge for sustainable forest management. It has been proposed that functional dissimilarity can increase forest productivity, particularly in water-limited ecosystems (as Mediterranean forests), where water stress might increase complementarity resource use among species (hypothesis of niche complementarity). Alternatively, strongly water-limited forests may favor the dominance of woody species with slow-growth and conservative resource-use trait values, which in turn, might increase plant community productivity proportionally to their biomass (hypothesis of mass-ratio). The effects of such mechanisms on productivity is yet understudied in water-limited forests. We assessed the effect of both previously described mechanisms on productivity in a semi-arid Mediterranean-type climate matorral of Chile through a trait-based approach. We hypothesized that: (1) higher dissimilarity of functional trait values of crowns, roots and phenology among woody species increases community productivity. Alternatively, (2) higher dominance of woody species of conservative trait values increases forest productivity. We installed twenty-three 25 × 25 m plots in the matorral of the National Reserve of “Robleria de Los Cobres de Loncha” located in the Coastal Range. Forest productivity was estimated as above-ground biomass changes between 2010 and 2017. The mean species pairwise dissimilarity (MPD) and the community-weighted mean trait values (CWM) were calculated for each single trait as surrogates of the hypotheses of niche complementarity and mass-ratio, respectively. Environmental variables (e.g. altitude, slope, precipitation) were included as potential drivers influencing productivity. We performed a selection procedure of multiple linear regression models based on the Akaike Information Criterion. Our findings show that higher forest productivity was related with higher trait similarity of plant maximum height and onset of growth among species. Besides, productivity increased with CWM values that reflect greater dominance of species exhibiting acquisitive traits (i.e. greater maximum plant height, lower wood density and earlier onset of growth) rather than conservative traits. Moreover, forest productivity increased with increasing altitude, precipitation and decreasing temperatures from 300 to 900 m. Therefore, in contrast with our hypotheses, productivity increased by greater trait similarity among dominant highly-competitive species - which might be favored by mesic conditions at middle altitudes of the Coastal Range. The sustainable management of semi-arid Mediterranean forests with the main focus on productivity should promote higher dominance of highly-competitive species with similar functional trait values in mesic conditions, and conservative species with greater trait functional dissimilarity to increase drought resistance in stressful environments.

Land use change may modify litter inputs to soil, with important consequences for belowground processes such as organic carbon (C) mineralization. In this study, we experimentally tested the effects of changes on litter quantity and quality on CO2 release in intensively used soils from the Chaco Forest. We applied leaf litter of two species (representing the highest and lowest litter C:N ratio of dominant woody species found in the system) in two doses (minimum and maximum litter fall recorded in the system) to the soil. We incubated the soil and measured CO2 release on different dates. Litter quantity rather than litter quality was the fundamental determinant of soil CO2 release rates in the Chaco forest. Accordingly, changes in litter input would have the potential to impact soil organic C dynamics, with positive feedback to the atmospheric C pool.

It is often assumed that a change in litter quality is the main driver of alterations in the decomposition process when grazers modify vegetation structure. Soil microclimate is also modified, but this driver of decomposition has been far less studied than litter quality. We analyzed the relationships among vegetation structure, microclimate and decomposition in different mountain grassland types, across a fence-line separating paddocks with different grazing intensity. Along the fence, we selected nine pairs of contrasting grassland types including lawns and tall tussock grasslands, which are associated with high and low local grazing pressure, respectively. At each site (N = 18) we estimated growth form composition and vegetation height. During the growing season we recorded soil temperature, soil moisture and the photosynthetically active radiation. Within the same period, we measured the decomposition rate of two common litter substrates. We analyzed the relationships among those variables at the landscape and at the local scale. At the landscape scale we considered the variation across all sites (N = 18). At the local scale we considered each pair as a sample (N = 9) and the differences between both sides of the fence as the variables to correlate. Our results indicate that when short grasslands are released from grazing and tall grasslands became dominant, temperature and light at the soil level are reduced, while soil moisture tends to increase, enhancing decomposition. Furthermore, these results show that the microclimatic conditions effect can counteract the litter quality effect (reported in previous studies) on decomposition, resulting in increased decomposition rates when grazing is reduced. Fil: Vaieretti, Maria Victoria. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; Argentina Fil: Iamamoto, Sabrina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba; Argentina Fil: Pérez Harguindeguy, Natalia. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; Argentina Fil: Cingolani, Ana María. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba; Argentina

Global sustainability initiatives are gaining momentum and impact, and place-based research can provide complementary insights to strengthen them. Here, we explore the current and potential role of place-based research into informing global sustainability initiatives by assessing the strengths, challenges, and opportunities. We show that place-based research allows for a better understanding of global social-ecological dynamics, and that transformations towards sustainability are often triggered at the local scale through the co-construction of local solutions. We discuss that the very nature of place-based research can hinder its transferability because its global integration faces temporal, spatial and governance scale mismatches, and we identify some of the key challenges of scaling-up its findings. We highlight new opportunities to mainstream place-based research that are emerging from first, long-term networks of place-based research, second, new institutional research settings that contribute with conceptual comprehensive frameworks and capacity building tools, third, a global community of practice, and fourth, the concept of region as a bridge between local and global sustainability initiatives. We believe that the time is ripe to promote the role of place-based social-ecological research as a key contributor to achieve global sustainability goals. Fil: Balvanera, Patricia. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; México Fil: Calderón Contreras, Rafael. Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana; México Fil: Castro, Antonio J.. University of Idaho; Estados Unidos. Universidad de Almería; España Fil: Felipe Lucia, María R.. University of Berne; Suiza Fil: Geijzendorffer, Ilse R.. Tour du Valat. Research Institute for the Conservation of Mediterranean Wetlands; Francia Fil: Jacobs, Sander. Research Group Nature and Society. Research Institute for Nature and Forest; Países Bajos. Belgian Biodiversity Platform; Países Bajos Fil: Martín López, Berta. Leuphana University of Lüneburg. Faculty of Sustainability. Institute of Ethics and Transdisciplinary Sustainability Research; Alemania Fil: Arbieu, Ugo. Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre; Alemania Fil: Speranza, Chinwe Ifejika. University of Berne; Suiza Fil: Locatelli, Bruno. Agricultural Research for Development ; Francia. Center for International Forestry Research ; Perú Fil: Pérez Harguindeguy, Natalia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; Argentina Fil: Ruiz Mercado, Ilse. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; México Fil: Spierenburg, Marja J.. Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen; Países Bajos Fil: Vallet, Améline. Centre International de Recherche Sur L'environnement Et Le Developpement; Francia Fil: Lynes, Laura. The Rockies Institute; Canadá Fil: Gillson, Lindsey. African Climate And Development Initiative; Sudáfrica

Net emissions of CO2 from land-use conversion represent a significant driver of global climatic change. This is especially true for subtropical seasonally dry Chaco forests from southern South America, now experiencing one of the highest loss rates globally. However, direct quantifications of the effect of accelerated deforestation on carbon (C) pools of these systems are rare. Considering five dominant ecosystem types within the dry Chaco forest of Argentina, derived by land-use change from the same original vegetation, substrate, and climate, we quantified the magnitude and change of total C pools including trees and shrubs, non-woody plants, coarse and fine debris, and soil organic (SOC) and inorganic (SIC) pools up to 2 m depth. Soil C pools represented the largest C stocks (>74%). Shrubs also represented a large C pool (at least 28% of the aboveground standing biomass), which we quantified in detail for the first time. The conversion of forests to open shrublands and croplands was associated to large losses of organic C both in aboveground biomass and in soils down to 30 cm depth (from 43 to 64%). Although SIC is usually considered as a relatively stable compartment, the forest to crop transition presented here involved carbonate losses of c. 68% at soil depths between 1 and 2 m. Our results indicate that the landscape transformations expected in the region under business-as-usual socioeconomic scenarios will probably lead to a marked reduction of the C stored, with a consequent net C emission and a decline in other C storage-related ecosystem services provided by these ecosystems. Fil: Conti, Georgina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal (p); Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Cordoba. Facultad de Cs.exactas Fisicas y Naturales. Departamento de Diversidad Biologica y Ecologica; Argentina Fil: Perez Harguindeguy, Natalia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal (p); Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Cordoba. Facultad de Cs.exactas Fisicas y Naturales. Departamento de Diversidad Biologica y Ecologica; Argentina Fil: Quétier, Fabien. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal (p); Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Cordoba. Facultad de Cs.exactas Fisicas y Naturales. Departamento de Diversidad Biologica y Ecologica; Argentina Fil: Gorne, Lucas Damián. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal (p); Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Cordoba. Facultad de Cs.exactas Fisicas y Naturales. Departamento de Diversidad Biologica y Ecologica; Argentina Fil: Jaureguiberry, Pedro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal (p); Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Cordoba. Facultad de Cs.exactas Fisicas y Naturales. Departamento de Diversidad Biologica y Ecologica; Argentina Fil: Bertone, Gustavo Alejandro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal (p); Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Cordoba. Facultad de Cs.exactas Fisicas y Naturales. Departamento de Diversidad Biologica y Ecologica; Argentina Fil: Enrico, Lucas. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal (p); Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Cordoba. Facultad de Cs.exactas Fisicas y Naturales. Departamento de Diversidad Biologica y Ecologica; Argentina Fil: Cuchietti, Anibal. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal (p); Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Cordoba. Facultad de Cs.exactas Fisicas y Naturales. Departamento de Diversidad Biologica y Ecologica; Argentina Fil: Diaz, Sandra Myrna. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal (p); Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Cordoba. Facultad de Cs.exactas Fisicas y Naturales. Departamento de Diversidad Biologica y Ecologica; Argentina

South American subtropical dry forests are highly threatened by fragmentation. Despite considerable research efforts aimed at predicting ecosystem alterations due to this driver of global change, we still need to deal with general principles to improve our ability to predict the impact of fragmentation. Our work is one of the few studies that analyse the relationship between forest fragmentation and decomposition. In 12 remnants of Chaco Serrano forest in Central Argentina we tested if decomposition rates of a common leaf-litter substrate varied with fragment size and between the forest edge and interior. Decomposition declined with fragment size, with no significant effects of location (edge/interior) or interaction between the two components of fragmentation. Our results suggest that in situ conditions for decomposition may change as a consequence of forest fragmentation, specifically as a result fragment size. This may lead to impaired nutrient recycling in smaller forest remnants. Fil: Moreno, Maria Laura. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal (p); Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales. Centro de Investigaciones Entomológicas de Córdoba; Argentina Fil: Bernaschini, Maria Laura. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal (p); Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales. Centro de Investigaciones Entomológicas de Córdoba; Argentina Fil: Perez Harguindeguy, Natalia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal (p); Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales; Argentina Fil: Valladares, Graciela Rosa. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal (p); Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales. Centro de Investigaciones Entomológicas de Córdoba; Argentina

Exotic species can have a strong influence on ecosystem processes, especially when exotic invaders differ from natives in key morpho-functional features. We explored whether exotic species, especially those forming monospecific patches in Chaco montane woodlands, differ from natives in leaf attributes and decomposability. We then evaluated how exotic monospecific patches in that region alter litter decomposability, by weighting leaf trait values and decomposability by species abundance in the communities. In general, native and exotic species from Córdoba Chaco montane woodlands did not differ in leaf attributes (specific leaf area, leaf toughness, and leaf water content), or decomposability. Because of similar trait values and decomposability, we expected to find no differences in litter decomposability between plots dominated by exotic species and those of Native woodland. However, individual species decomposability weighted by species abundance in the communities showed that litter from exotic monospecific plots had slower decomposition than native ones. This pattern was confirmed by the higher decomposability and higher quality of the naturally mixed litter collected from native plots, compared to those collected from exotic plots. Despite the general similarities between most native and exotic species inhabiting Chaco montane woodlands, the overwhelming dominance of some exotic invaders in monospecific stands (and the consequent weight of their attributes on the litter each woodland produces) might be driving differences in decomposition patterns between woodland types. Our results indicate that when estimating the impact of exotic species on ecosystem processes, we should include their relative abundance in the community, as well as the relevance of the traits influencing those processes. Otherwise, we may draw erroneous conclusions. Fil: Furey, Carolina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; Argentina Fil: Tecco, Paula Andrea. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; Argentina Fil: Perez Harguindeguy, Natalia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; Argentina Fil: Giorgis, Melisa Adriana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; Argentina Fil: Grossi, Mariana Andrea. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Cientifico Tecnológico La Plata; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División de Plantas Vasculares; Argentina

Land-use change in tropical forests can affect the micro-environment for decomposition under modified canopies. In turn, decomposition may have consequences for soil fertility and ecosystem sustainability. The effects of the conversion from primary forest to pastures on leaf-litter decomposition and its recovery in secondary forests 20 y after pasture abandonment were evaluated using litterbags and a general mixed model approach. Litterbags containing leaf-litter of two contrasting qualities were placed in those three ecosystems and the mass remaining after 90 d was quantified. The mass remaining was 50% lower in high- than in low-quality leaves. The effects of the decomposition environment depended on the substrate quality. Although differences among ecosystems were not significant for low-quality leaves, high-quality leaves decomposed more slowly in pastures than in forests (mean dry mass remaining was 38% in pastures, 14% in secondary and 12% in primary forest). The decomposition of common substrates did not differ among forests. Results show that the conversion of primary forest to pasture may produce conditions for slower decomposition; however, these conditions appear be restored to a great extent in 20-y-old secondary forests.

Background and Aims Grazing may influence nutrient cycling in several ways. In productive mountain grasslands of central Argentina cattle grazing maintain a mosaic of different vegetation patches: lawns, grazed intensively and dominated by high quality palatable plants, and open and closed tussock grasslands dominated by less palatable species. We investigated if differences in the resources deposited on soil (litter and faeces) were associated with litter decomposition rates and soil nitrogen (N) availability across these vegetation patches. Methods We compared the three vegetation patches in terms of litter and faeces quality and decomposability, annual litterfall and faeces deposition rate. We determined decomposition rates of litter and faces in situ and decomposability of the same substrates in a common garden using ?litter bags?. We determined soil N availability (with resin bags) in the vegetation patches. Also, we performed a common plant substrates decomposition experiment to assess the effect of soil environment on decomposition process. This technique provides important insights about the soil environmental controls of decomposition (i.e. the sum of soil physicochemical and biological properties, and microclimate), excluding the substrate quality. Results The litter quality and faeces deposition rate were higher in grazing lawns, but the total amounts of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) deposited on soil were higher in tussock grasslands, due to higher litterfall in these patches. The in situ decomposition rates of litter and faeces, and of the two common plant substrates were not clearly related to either grazing pressure, litterfall or litter quality (C, N, P, lignin, cellulose or hemicellulose content). In situ litter decomposition rate and soil ammonium availability were correlated with the decomposition rates of both common plant substrates. This may suggest that difference in local soil environment among patch types is a stronger driver of decomposition rate than quality or quantity of the resource that enter the soil. Conclusions Our results show that, although high grazing pressure improves litter quality and increases faeces input, the reduction in biomass caused by herbivores greatly reduces C and N input for the litter decomposition pathway. We did not find an accelerated decomposition rate in grazing lawns as proposed by general models. Our results point to soil environment as a potential important control that could mask the effect of litter quality on field decomposition rates at local scale. Nota: en este trabajo participé como directora de Tesis de Doctorado. Fil: Vaieretti, Maria Victoria. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal (p); Argentina Fil: Cingolani, Ana María. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal (p); Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales; Argentina Fil: Perez Harguindeguy, Natalia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal (p); Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales; Argentina Fil: Cabido, Marcelo Ruben. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal (p); Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales; Argentina

Pérez-Harguindeguy et al., Plant functional traits are the features (morphological, physiological, phenological) that represent ecological strategies and determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels and influence ecosystem properties. Variation in plant functional traits, and trait syndromes, has proven useful for tackling many important ecological questions at a range of scales, giving rise to a demand for standardised ways to measure ecologically meaningful plant traits. This line of research has been among the most fruitful avenues for understanding ecological and evolutionary patterns and processes. It also has the potential both to build a predictive set of local, regional and global relationships between plants and environment and to quantify a wide range of natural and human-driven processes, including changes in biodiversity, the impacts of species invasions, alterations in biogeochemical processes and vegetation-atmosphere interactions. The importance of these topics dictates the urgent need for more and better data, and increases the value of standardised protocols for quantifying trait variation of different species, in particular for traits with power to predict plant-and ecosystem-level processes, and for traits that can be measured relatively easily. Updated and expanded from the widely used previous version, this handbook retains the focus on clearly presented, widely applicable, step-by-step recipes, with a minimum of text on theory, and not only includes updated methods for the traits previously covered, but also introduces many new protocols for further traits. This new handbook has a better balance between whole-plant traits, leaf traits, root and stem traits and regenerative traits, and puts particular emphasis on traits important for predicting species' effects on key ecosystem properties. We hope this new handbook becomes a standard companion in local and global efforts to learn about the responses and impacts of different plant species with respect to environmental changes in the present, past and future. © CSIRO 2013., This contribution was funded, in part, by the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI) CRN 2015 and SGP-CRA2015, which were supported by US National Science Foundation Grants GEO-0452325 and GEO-1138881 The work was also funded by FONCyT (PICT 20441 and 365), CONICET (PIP 2006-2011 11220080101532), SECYT-Universidad Nacional de Córdoba – Argentina, and the US NSF (DEB-0620652).

Forest loss can affect ecosystem processes such as litter decomposition. In semi-arid areas, where forest loss is increasing, soil fauna can play a particularly important role on litter decomposition. However, few studies have addressed the effect of soil fauna on litter decomposition in fragmented semi-arid forests, and none within the dry season in which most litter is shed. In this study, we employed litterbags filled with a common substrate to assess forest size and invertebrate detritivore effects on decomposition. Our results showed an average 14% litter mass loss along 3–9 months of incubation in the dry season, with variations being independent of forest size. Although exclusion resulted in slightly lower abundance of invertebrate detritivores, litter decomposition was similar in exclusion and non-exclusion treatments. We found no significant relationships between fragment size and invertebrate abundance or richness, which in turn did not influence decomposition. Temperature or moisture limitations, and even photodegradation, could have masked differences in decomposition rates related to forest size during the dry season in semi-arid Chaco Serrano. Additionally, harsh environmental conditions during the incubation period could constrain the impact of invertebrate detritivores on the decomposition process. The absence of clear links between forest fragmentation, decomposition and soil fauna during the dry season, when conditions might be particularly limiting for this process, and when invertebrates could be expected to play a particularly important role, opens up new Fil: Bernaschini, Maria Laura. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales. Centro de Investigaciones Entomológicas de Córdoba; Argentina Fil: Moreno, Maria Laura. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales. Centro de Investigaciones Entomológicas de Córdoba; Argentina Fil: Pérez Harguindeguy, Natalia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; Argentina Fil: Valladares, Graciela Rosa. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales. Centro de Investigaciones Entomológicas de Córdoba; Argentina

We performed a comprehensive comparative study of functional traits in coexisting alien and native woody species in order to examine the strategies related to resource use and dispersion underlying alien success in mountain Chaco woodlands of central Argentina. Our approach integrated seemingly contrasting pieces of evidence in the region. We specifically assessed whether (i) the 'functional acquisitive trend' previously observed along a broad environmental gradient accounts for woody alien naturalization when considering a single mesic ecosystem; or (ii) more than one trait syndrome is important among alien species, which would be more in line with the context-dependent nature of biological invasions at a local scale. Fifteen vegetative and regenerative traits were measured on the most common 14 native and 11 alien woody species.We compared the attributes of (i) native and alien species and (ii) between native species and two contrasting groups of alien species identified in the previous analysis. The overall trait comparison (i) showed that, in terms of vegetative attributes, woody alien species tend to be on average more acquisitive than native species. However, (ii) two contrasting syndromes were revealed among alien species: a group of seven deciduous species with acquisitive attributes; and a group of four evergreen species showing markedly more conservative attributes than the first group. The functional attributes of 'conservative aliens' completely overlapped with the range observed for native species, except for an exclusive dispersal phenology and a stronger tendency to clonal spread. Acquisitive aliens, in turn, proved to be beyond the range of attributes of native species, at the acquisitive extreme, as they did in previous comparisons. Despite their importance, general trends in plant functional attributes across regions and ecosystems can sometimes obscure trends at more local scales that are nevertheless important for the understanding and management of particular systems. Our study concurs with previous general trends when looking at the overall comparison between native and alien species, but unveils contrasting functional strategies among alien species when examining their attributes more closely, even within the same ecosystem.

Aim: Millennial-scale biogeographic changes are well understood in many parts of the world, but little is known about long-term vegetation dynamics in subtropical regions. Here we investigate shifts in C3/C4 plant abundance occurred in central Argentina during the past few millenniaMethods: We determined present day soil organic matter ??13C signatures of grasslands, shrublands and woodlands, containing different mixtures of C3 and C4 plants. We measured past changes in the relative cover of C3/C4 plants by comparing ??13C values in soil profiles with present day ??13C signatures. We analyzed 14C activity in soil depths that showed major changes in vegetation. Results: Present day relative cover of C3/C4 plants determines whole ecosystem ??13C signatures integrated as litter and superficial soil organic matter (R2 = 0. 78; p < 0. 01). Deeper soils show a consistent shift in ??13C, indicating a continuous replacement of C4 by C3 plants since 3,870 (??210) YBP. During this period, the relative abundance of C3 plants increased 32% (average across sites) with significant changes being observed in all studied ecosystems. Conclusions: Our results show that C4 species were more abundant in the past, but C3 species became dominant during the late Holocene. We identified increases in the relative C3/C4 cover in grasslands, shrublands and woodlands, suggesting a physiological basis for changes in vegetation. The replacement of C4 by C3 plants coincided with changes in climate towards colder and wetter conditions and could represent a climatically driven shift in the C4 species optimum range. Fil: Silva, Lucas C. R.. University of Guelph. Global Ecological Change Laboratory. School of Environmental Sciences; Canadá Fil: Giorgis, Melisa Adriana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal (p); Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba; Argentina Fil: Anand, Madhur. University of Guelph. Global Ecological Change Laboratory. School of Environmental Sciences; Canadá Fil: Enrico, Lucas. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal (p); Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba; Argentina Fil: Perez Harguindeguy, Natalia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal (p); Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba; Argentina Fil: Falczuk, Valeria. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal (p); Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba; Argentina Fil: Tieszen, Larry L.. US Geological Survey Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center; Estados Unidos Fil: Cabido, Marcelo Ruben. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal (p); Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba; Argentina

Leaf mechanical properties strongly influence leaf lifespan, plant-herbivore interactions, litter decomposition and nutrient cycling, but global patterns in their interspecific variation and underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. We synthesize data across the three major measurement methods, permitting the first global analyses of leaf mechanics and associated traits, for 2819 species from 90 sites worldwide. Key measures of leaf mechanical resistance varied c. 500-800-fold among species. Contrary to a long-standing hypothesis, tropical leaves were not mechanically more resistant than temperate leaves. Leaf mechanical resistance was modestly related to rainfall and local light environment. By partitioning leaf mechanical resistance into three different components we discovered that toughness per density contributed a surprisingly large fraction to variation in mechanical resistance, larger than the fractions contributed by lamina thickness and tissue density. Higher toughness per density was associated with long leaf lifespan especially in forest understory. Seldom appreciated in the past, toughness per density is a key factor in leaf mechanical resistance, which itself influences plant-animal interactions and ecosystem functions across the globe.

The crucial role of biodiversity in the links between ecosystems and societies has been repeatedly highlighted both as source of wellbeing and as a target of human actions, but not all aspects of biodiversity are equally important to different ecosystem services. Similarly, different social actors have different perceptions of and access to ecosystem services, and therefore, they have different wants and capacities to select directly or indirectly for particular biodiversity and ecosystem characteristics. Their choices feed back onto the ecosystem services provided to all parties involved and in turn, affect future decisions. Despite this recognition, the research communities addressing biodiversity, ecosystem services, and human outcomes have yet to develop frameworks that adequately treat the multiple dimensions and interactions in the relationship. Here, we present an interdisciplinary framework for the analysis of relationships between functional diversity, ecosystem services, and human actions that is applicable to specific social environmental systems at local scales. We connect the mechanistic understanding of the ecological role of diversity with its social relevance: ecosystem services. The framework permits connections between functional diversity components and priorities of social actors using land use decisions and ecosystem services as the main links between these ecological and social components. We propose a matrix-based method that provides a transparent and flexible platform for quantifying and integrating social and ecological information and negotiating potentially conflicting land uses among multiple social actors. We illustrate the applicability of our framework by way of land use examples from temperate to subtropical South America, an area of rapid social and ecological change. Fil: Diaz, Sandra Myrna. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; Argentina Fil: Quétier, Fabien. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; Argentina Fil: Caceres, Daniel Mario. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Cs.agropecuarias. Departamento de Desarrollo Rural; Argentina Fil: Trainor, Sarah. University of Alaska. Department of Geography; Estados Unidos Fil: Perez Harguindeguy, Natalia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; Argentina Fil: Bret Harte, M. Syndonia. University of Alaska. Institute of Arctic Biology; Estados Unidos Fil: Finegan, Bryan. Tropical Agricultural Centre for Research and Higher Education. Production and Conservation in Forests Programme; Costa Rica Fil: Peña Claros, Marielos. Instituto Boliviano de Investigación Forestal; Bolivia. Wageningen University. Center for Ecosystem Studies. Forest Ecology and Forest Management Group; Países Bajos Fil: Poorter, Lourens. Wageningen University. Center for Ecosystem Studies. Forest Ecology and Forest Management Group; Países Bajos. Instituto Boliviano de Investigación Forestal; Bolivia

Grazing can modify vegetation structure and species composition through selective consumption, modifying plant litter quality and hence decomposability. In most grasslands, moderate stocking rates maintain a mosaic of high-quality patches, preferentially used by herbivores (‘grazing lawns’), and low-quality tall patches, which are avoided. In grazing lawns decomposition rates can be accelerated because of the higher litter quality of its component species and, besides, through the indirect effect of increased nutrient availability in soil. We aimed at testing this indirect effect using standard materials, comparing their decomposition in grazing lawns, open and closed tall tussock grasslands. We selected 10 patches of each type and sampled floristic composition, soil variables and cattle dung deposition. Standard materials were filter paper and Poa stuckertii litter. We prepared litterbags of 0.3 mm (thin mesh) and 1 mm mesh size (coarse mesh). Samples were incubated for 65 days in two ways: above-ground (thin and coarse mesh) and below-ground (only thin mesh), aiming at analysing the conditions for decomposition for surface litter and buried litter or dead roots, respectively. Physical and chemical soil variables did not differ among patch types, despite the differences in species composition. Closed tussock grasslands showed the lowest dung deposition, confirming the less intense use of these patches. Soil nitrogen availability (N-NO3- and N-NH4+) was not significantly different among patch types. Each standard material followed a different decomposition pattern across patch types. For above-ground incubated samples, Poa litter decomposed significantly faster in lawns, and slower in open tussock grasslands. Filter paper decomposed significantly faster in closed tussock grasslands than in the other two patch types. Decomposition of below-ground incubated samples did not significantly differ among patch types, in line with results for soil variables. Above-ground differences in decomposition may be associated with differences in microclimatic conditions resulting from differences in vegetation structure.

12 páginas, 5 figuras, 2 tablas.-- et al., [Background and Aims]: Genome size is a function, and the product, of cell volume. As such it is contingent on ecological circumstance. The nature of ‘this ecological circumstance’ is, however, hotly debated. Here, we investigate for angiosperms whether stomatal size may be this ‘missing link’: the primary determinant of genome size. Stomata are crucial for photosynthesis and their size affects functional efficiency. [Methods]: Stomatal and leaf characteristics were measured for 1442 species from Argentina, Iran, Spain and the UK and, using PCA, some emergent ecological and taxonomic patterns identified. Subsequently, an assessment of the relationship between genome-size values obtained from the Plant DNA C-values database and measurements of stomatal size was carried out. [Key Results]: Stomatal size is an ecologically important attribute. It varies with life-history (woody species < herbaceous species < vernal geophytes) and contributes to ecologically and physiologically important axes of leaf specialization. Moreover, it is positively correlated with genome size across a wide range of major taxa. [Conclusions]: Stomatal size predicts genome size within angiosperms. Correlation is not, however, proof of causality and here our interpretation is hampered by unexpected deficiencies in the scientific literature. Firstly, there are discrepancies between our own observations and established ideas about the ecological significance of stomatal size; very large stomata, theoretically facilitating photosynthesis in deep shade, were, in this study (and in other studies), primarily associated with vernal geophytes of unshaded habitats. Secondly, the lower size limit at which stomata can function efficiently, and the ecological circumstances under which these minute stomata might occur, have not been satisfactorally resolved. Thus, our hypothesis, that the optimization of stomatal size for functional efficiency is a major ecological determinant of genome size, remains unproven., A considerable quantity of the data used in this project was collected during projects funded by respectively NERC (UK), the Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands (RIFR, Iran), Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Comisión Interministerial de Ciencia y Tecnología (Spain) and the Darwin Initiative for the Survival of Species (DEFRA, UK).

Climate affects litter decomposition directly through temperature and moisture, determining the ecosystem potential decomposition, and indirectly through its effect on plant community composition and litter quality, determining litter potential decomposition. It would be expected that both the direct and indirect effects of climate on decomposition act in the same direction along gradients of actual evapotranspiration (AET). However, studies from semiarid ecosystems challenge this idea, suggesting that the climatic conditions that favour decomposition activity, and the consequent ecosystem potential decomposition, do not necessarily lead to litter being easier to decompose. We explored the decomposition patterns of four arid to subhumid native ecosystems with different AET in central-western Argentina and we analysed if ecosystem potential decomposition (climatic direct effect), nutrient availability and leaf litter potential decomposition (climatic indirect effect) all increased with AET. In general, the direct effect of climate (AET) on decomposition (i.e. ecosystem potential decomposition), showed a similar pattern to nutrient availability in soils (higher for xerophytic and mountain woodlands and lower for the other ecosystems), but different from the pattern of leaf litter potential decomposition. However, the range of variation in the ecosystem potential decomposition was much higher than the range of variation in litter potential decomposition, indicating that the direct effect of climate on decomposition was far stronger than the indirect effect through litter quality. Our results provide additional experimental evidence supporting the direct control of climate over decomposition, and therefore nutrient cycling. For the ecosystems considered, those with the highest AET are the ecosystems with the highest potential decomposition. But what is more interesting is that our results suggest that the indirect control of climate over decomposition through vegetation characteristics and decomposability does not follow the same trend as the direct effect of climate. This finding has important implications in the prediction of the effects of climate change on semiarid ecosystems. Fil: Pérez Harguindeguy, Natalia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; Argentina Fil: Díaz, Sandra Myrna. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; Argentina Fil: Vendramini, Fernanda. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; Argentina Fil: Gurvich, Diego Ezequiel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; Argentina Fil: Cingolani, Ana María. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; Argentina Fil: Giorgis, Melisa Adriana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; Argentina Fil: Cabido, Marcelo Ruben. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; Argentina

Fil: Tecco, Paula Andrea. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas. Centro Cientifico Tecnologico Conicet - Cordoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biologia Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Cordoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Fisicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biologia Vegetal; Argentina

Ecosystem services have become a mainstream concept for the expression of values assigned by people to various functions of ecosystems. Even though the introduction of the concept has initiated a vast amount of research, progress in using this knowledge for sustainable resource use remains insufficient. We see a need to broaden the scope of research to answer three key questions that we believe will improve incorporation of ecosystem service research into decision-making for the sustainable use of natural resources to improve human well-being: (i) how are ecosystem services co-produced by social–ecological systems, (ii) who benefits from the provision of ecosystem services, and (iii) what are the best practices for the governance of ecosystem services? Here, we present these key questions, the rationale behind them, and their related scientific challenges in a globally coordinated research programme aimed towards improving sustainable ecosystem management. These questions will frame the activities of ecoSERVICES, formerly a DIVERSITAS project and now a project of Future Earth, in its role as a platform to foster global coordination of multidisciplinary sustainability science through the lens of ecosystem services. Fil: Bennett, E. M.. McGill University; Canadá Fil: Cramer, Wolfgang. Aix Marseille Université; Francia. Avignon Université; Francia Fil: Begossi, Alpina. Universidade Estadual de Campinas; Brasil. Universidade Santa Cecília; Brasil Fil: Cundill, Georgina. Rhodes University; Sudáfrica Fil: Díaz, Sandra Myrna. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; Argentina Fil: Egoh, Benis N.. University of KwaZulu-Natal; Sudáfrica Fil: Geijzendorffer, Ilse R.. Aix Marseille Université; Francia. Avignon Université; Francia Fil: Krug, Cornelia B.. Université de Paris XI; Francia Fil: Lavorel, Sandra. Université Grenoble Alpes; Francia. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique; Francia Fil: Lazos, Elena. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; México Fil: Lebel, Louis. Chiang Mai University; Tailandia Fil: Martín López, Berta. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid; España. Universidad de Copenhagen; Dinamarca Fil: Meyfroidt, Patrick. Université Catholique de Louvain; Bélgica Fil: Mooney, Harold A.. University of Stanford; Estados Unidos Fil: Nel, Jeanne L.. Council for Scientific and Industrial Research; Sudáfrica Fil: Pascual, Unai. Basque Centre for Climate Change; España. University of Cambridge; Reino Unido Fil: Payet, Karine. Aix Marseille Université; Francia. Avignon Université; Francia Fil: Pérez Harguindeguy, Natalia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; Argentina Fil: Peterson, Garry D.. Stockholms Universitet; Suecia Fil: Prieur Richard, Anne Hélène. Museum National D; Francia Fil: Reyers, Belinda. Council for Scientific and Industrial Research; Sudáfrica Fil: Roebeling, Peter. University of Aveiro; Portugal Fil: Seppelt, Ralf. Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research; Alemania. German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research; Alemania Fil: Solan, Martin. University of Southampton; Reino Unido Fil: Tschakert, Petra. State University of Pennsylvania; Estados Unidos Fil: Tscharntke, Teja. Georg August University; Alemania Fil: Turner II, B. L.. Arizona State University; Estados Unidos Fil: Verburg, Peter H.. University of Amsterdam; Países Bajos Fil: Viglizzo, Ernesto Francisco. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro Regional La Pampa-San Luis; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina Fil: White, Piran C. L.. University of York; Reino Unido Fil: Woodward, Guy. Imperial College London; Reino Unido

Algunos trabajos han explorado métodos fáciles y rápidos de evaluar la decomponibilidad de la broza de grandes conjuntos de especies. Aquí evaluamos tres de los más utilizados en seis especies mediterráneas herbáceas de diferentes familias y formas de vida: (1) 'caracteres de hojas verdes': caracteres de hojas vivas relacionadas a las estrategias de vida de las plantas; (2) 'caracteres de la broza': respiración de la broza durante incubaciones in vitro y propiedades iniciales de la broza; (3) 'propiedades espectrales de las hojas y de la broza': características espectrales (NIR) de las hojas verdes y de la broza. Analizamos las relaciones entre estos métodos y su consistencia para evaluar la tasa de descomposición de la broza en el campo. Las propiedades espectrales de hojas verdes fueron las más precisas para predecir la descomponibilidad a campo, seguidas por el contenido de materia seca de las hojas (LDMC) y el contenido inicial de compuestos no lábiles de la broza. La descomponibilidad in vitro se correlacionó marginalmente con la descomponibilidad a campo. La selección entre los predictores puede depender, entonces, de los instrumentos disponibles. LDMC es el método más económico y fácil de medir para grandes conjuntos de especies que, a su vez, fue constante dentro de las especies analizadas. Alternativamente, en el caso de tener el equipamiento y las calibraciones disponibles, los espectros NIR de las hojas verdes y de la broza inicial representan un método rápido para estimar la descomponibilidad y calidad de la broza al mismo tiempo. Nuestros resultados confirman evidencias previas que para las especies de sistemas semiáridos caracteres estructurales como LDMC y el contenido de compuestos no lábiles son propiedades importantes en el control de la descomponibilidad de la broza. La validez de nuestras conclusiones para un rango mayor de especies debería probarse en futuros estudios. Several studies attempted to find quick and easy methods to assess litter decomposability. We tested three frequently used methods on 6 Mediterranean herbaceous species from different plant families and life forms: (1) ‘green leaves traits’: traits of living leaves related to the strategies of living plants; (2) ‘litter traits’: litter respiration during in vitro incubation and initial litter properties; and (3) ‘leaf and litter spectral properties’: the spectral characteristics (NIR) of green leaves and litter. We analyzed the relationship between these methods and their consistency to assess litter decomposability in the field. Green leaves spectral properties were the most accurate to predict Several studies attempted to find quick and easy methods to assess litter decomposability. We tested three frequently used methods on 6 Mediterranean herbaceous species from different plant families and life forms: (1) ‘green leaves traits’: traits of living leaves related to the strategies of living plants; (2) ‘litter traits’: litter respiration during in vitro incubation and initial litter properties; and (3) ‘leaf and litter spectral properties’: the spectral characteristics (NIR) of green leaves and litter. We analyzed the relationship between these methods and their consistency to assess litter decomposability in the field. Green leaves spectral properties were the most accurate to predict field decomposability, followed by leaf dry matter content (LDMC) and initial content of non-labile compounds. In vitro decomposability marginally correlated with field decomposability. The selection among these predictors may then depend on the instruments available. LDMC is the easiest and least expensive, and is also a constant trait within species. Alternatively, if available, NIR spectra of green leaves and initial litter represent the quickest method for estimating decomposability and litter quality at the same time. Our findings confirm previous evidence that for species from semi-arid systems structural traits like LDMC and non-labile compounds content are important properties controlling species litter decomposability. The validity of our conclusions when a wider range of species is included remains to be tested. decomposability, followed by leaf dry matter content (LDMC) and initial content of non-labile compounds. In vitro decomposability marginally correlated with field decomposability. The selection among these predictors may then depend on the instruments available. LDMC is the easiest and least expensive, and is also a constant trait within species. Alternatively, if available, NIR spectra of green leaves and initial litter represent the quickest method for estimating decomposability and litter quality at the same time. Our findings confirm previous evidence that for species from semi-arid systems structural traits like LDMC and non-labile compounds content are important properties controlling species litter decomposability. The validity of our conclusions when a wider range of species is included remains to be tested. Fil: Perez Harguindeguy, Natalia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal (p); Argentina Fil: Cortez, Jacques. Centre d´Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive; Francia Fil: Garnier, Eric. Centre d´Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive; Francia Fil: Gillon, Dominique. Centre d´Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive; Francia Fil: Poca, María. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal (p); Argentina

Litter decomposition plays an important role in secondary forest recovery in the tropics. In this study we assessed the decomposition rates of tree litter in species from different secondary forest types and with different shade tolerances. The three secondary forest types analysed are related to the effects of different previous land use intensities. The typical forest type (TYP) is related to low land use intensity, Alnus acuminata -dominated forest (ALN) type is related to medium land-use intensity and Amomyrtella guili -dominated forest type (AMO) is related to high land use intensity. The effect of shade tolerance was assessed using maximum height of each species as an indicator of its light requirements. Associations with leaf functional traits such as specific leaf area (SLA), and tensile strength (LTS) were also assessed. We found that leaves of species from the TYP forest type decompose faster than those of the ALN and AMO forest types. These changes were consistent with differences in the SLA of the species, which was higher in the TYP forest type than in the ALN and AMO forest types. SLA, LTS and decomposition were not significantly correlated with tree maximum height. Our results show that the secondary forest types, which are related to land use intensities prior to abandonment have an important influence on litter decomposition. This implies potential long-term effects on soil properties and species composition.

Despite the vast diversity and complexity of herbivores, plants and their interactions, most authors agree that a small number of components of leaf quality affect preference by generalist herbivores in a predictable way. However, herbivore preference is determined not only by intrinsic plant attributes and herbivore biology but also by the environmental context. Within this framework, we aimed to analyse general interspecific trends in the association between herbivory and leaf traits over a wide range of angiosperms from central Argentina. We (i) tested for consistent associations between leaf traits, consumption in the field, and preference of generalist invertebrate herbivores in cafeteria experiments; (ii) assessed how well herbivore preferences in cafeterias matched leaf consumption in the field; and (iii) developed a simple conceptual model linking leaf traits, herbivore preference in cafeterias and consumption in the field. In general, we found that tender leaves with higher nutritional quality were preferred by herbivores, both in the field and in cafeteria experiments. According to our model, this relationship between field and cafeteria consumption and leaf quality is observed when generalist herbivores and plants of high accessibility are considered. However, differences between leaf consumption in the field and in cafeteria experiments can also be found. At least two reasons can account for this: (i) specialized plant-herbivore relationships often occur in the field, whereas cafeteria experiments tend to consider only one or a few generalist herbivores; (ii) different plant species growing in the field often differ in their degree of accessibility to herbivores, whereas in cafeteria experiments all species are equally accessible. Our results add new evidence to a growing consensus that, although herbivory in the field is determined by many factors, consistent patterns of differential susceptibility to foliar feeders can be found in leaves differing in nutritional quality and thus in resource-use strategy.

Predicting global changes and their effects on ecosystem functioning has been a central issue of ecology during the last decades. Scaling-up from species characteristics to ecosystem processes is a common approach to achieve that goal. However, ecosystem processes are shaped by complex interactions between biotic and abiotic components, complicating their predictability. We evaluated how close we can get to ecosystem-level decomposition (i.e. in situ litter mixtures decomposition) based on aggregated functional traits (calculated as weighted averages of species litter quality and decomposability) in mountain grasslands patches of central Argentina. We found that aggregated functional traits were not significantly correlated to in situ decomposition; i.e. contrary to other works, in our system it is not possible to scale up from species characteristics to ecosystem-level decomposition. This pattern was consistent when litter quality and decomposability were weighted by either species standing biomass or by litter input. These two ways of aggregation were highly correlated, indicating that standing biomass was a good proxy of the contribution that species make to litter layer. Aggregated functional traits were strongly associated to litter mixtures decomposability (a proxy for community-level decomposition), indicating that there are no strong interactions among litters of the species decomposing together. However, litter mixtures decomposability was not correlated to in situ decomposition, showing that community-level and ecosystem-level decomposition were not related. We suggest that the soil environment generated by vegetation structure of the different grassland patches could be controlling in situ decomposition. The prediction of decomposition and nutrient cycling changes associated to land-use change calls for the consideration of variables which integrate different controls; i.e. not only species identity and abundance, but also climate and microclimate. In particular, studies combining decomposability and in situ decomposition could help to more accurately understand and predict the different mechanisms involved in nutrient and carbon cycling. Fil: Poca, María. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; Argentina Fil: Vaieretti, Maria Victoria. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; Argentina Fil: Cingolani, Ana María. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; Argentina Fil: Pérez Harguindeguy, Natalia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; Argentina

Fil: Gurvich, Diego Ezequiel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas. Centro Cientifico Tecnologico Conicet - Cordoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biologia Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Cordoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Fisicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biologia Vegetal; Argentina

Tanto la calidad química de la broza como las características físicas de las hojas verdes han sido indicadas como determinantes de la descomposición de la broza. El objetivo de este trabajo fue analizar la relación entre la descomposición, la calidad química de la broza y la calidad física de las hojas verdes de 24 especies dominantes de los pastizales mésicos y húmedos de las sierras altas de Córdoba (Argentina). Además, comparamos el patrón de asociación entre esas características con el descripto para las especies de las sierras bajas de la misma región. Medimos la descomposición de la broza mediante la incubación en jardín común en dos periodos (70 y 196 días). Como indicadores de la calidad química de la broza medimos el contenido de componentes lábiles (nitrógeno) y el de componentes recalcitrantes (celulosa, hemicelulosa y lignina). A partir de estos indicadores calculamos el contenido de fibras (sumas de compuestos recalcitrantes), la proporción holocelulosa/fibras y las relaciones lignina:nitrógeno, holocelulosa:nitrógeno y fibras:nitrógeno. Como indicador de calidad física de las hojas verdes medimos el área foliar específica. La descomposición aumentó a medida que disminuyó la relación fibras:nitrógeno para ambos periodos. Al contrario de lo encontrado en otros trabajos, el contenido de lignina y el área foliar específica no se correlacionaron significativamente con la descomposición. En cambio, las relaciones entre descomposición y calidad resultaron similares a las documentadas para las especies dominantes de las sierras bajas de Córdoba. Esta similitud, a pesar de las diferencias en composición de especies, tipos funcionales y regímenes climáticos, indica una consistencia del control químico en la descomposición. Litters’ chemical and green leaves’ physical quality have been indicated as determinants of litter decomposition. The objective of this work was to analyze the relationship between litter decomposition and chemical quality and green leaves physical quality of 24 dominant species of mesic and humid highland grasslands, Córdoba, Argentina. In addition, we compared the pattern of association between these variables with that described for the lowland mountains of the same region. We measured litter decomposition through a common garden experiment with two retrieval dates (70 and 196 days). We measured labile compounds (nitrogen) and recalcitrant compounds (cellulose, hemicelluloses and lignin) as litter chemical quality indicators. Besides, we calculated from these indicators the fiber content (sum of recalcitrant compounds), the holocellulose/fiber proportion and the lignin:nitrogen, holocellulose:nitrogen and fiber:nitrogen ratios. We measured the specific leaf area as a physical quality indicator of the green leaves. The decomposition increased mainly while the fiber:nitrogen ratio decreased for both retrieval dates. Contrary to other works, the lignin content and the specific leaf area were not significantly associated to the decomposition. The relationships that we found in this work between decomposition and quality parameters are similar to the ones described by Vaieretti et al. (2005) for the species of the lowland mountains of Córdoba. This similitude, in spite of the differences in species composition, functional types and environmental variables, indicate a consistent chemical control over decomposition.

We tested the hypothesis that there is a causal connection between autumn colour, nutrient concentration and decomposibility of fresh leaf litter. Samples from patches of different autumn colours within the leaves of the deciduous tree sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus) were sealed into litter bags and incubated for one winter in an outdoor leaf mould bed. Green leaf patches were decomposed faster than yellow or brown patches and this corresponded with the higher N and P concentrations in the former. Black patches, indicating colonisation by the tar spot fungus Rhytisma acerinum, were particularly high in P, but were decomposed very slowly, owing probably to resource immobilisation by the fungus. The results supported the hypothesis and were consistent with a previous study reporting an interspecific link between autumn coloration and decomposition rate. Autumn leaf colour of deciduous woody plants may serve as a useful predictor of litter decomposibility in ecosystem or biome scale studies where extensive direct measurements of litter chemistry and decomposition are not feasible.

Litter decomposition, a major determinant of ecosystem functioning, is strongly influenced by the litter quality of different species. We aimed at (1) relating interspecific variation in leaf litter decomposition rate to the functional types different species belong to; and (2) understanding the chemical and/or physical basis for such variation and its robustness to environmental factors. We selected 52 Angiosperms from a climatic gradient in central-western Argentina, representing the widest range of functional types and habitats published so far. Ten litter samples of each species were simultaneously buried for 9 weeks during the 1996 summer in an experimental decomposition bed. Decomposition rate was defined as the percentage of dry mass loss after incubation. Chemical litter quality was measured as carbon (C) content, nitrogen (N) content, and C-to-N ratio. Since tensile strength of litter and living leaves were strongly correlated, the latter was chosen as an indicator of physical litter quality. A subset of 15 species representing different functional types was also incubated in England for 15 weeks, following a similar experimental procedure. Litter C-to-N and leaf tensile strength of the leaves showed the strongest negative associations with decomposition rate, both at the species and at the functional-type level. Decomposition rates of the same species in Argentina and in England were strongly correlated. This reinforces previous evidence that species rankings in terms of litter decomposition rates are robust to methodological and environmental factors. This paper has shown new evidence of plant control over the turnover of organic matter through litter quality, and confirms, over a broad spectrum of functional types, general models of resource allocation. The strong correlations between leaf tensile strength – a trait that is easy and quick to measure in a large number of species – decomposition rate, and C-to-N ratio indicate that leaf tensile strength can be useful in linking plant quality to decomposition patterns at the ecosystem level.

In plant leaves, resource use follows a trade-off between rapid resource capture and conservative storage. This “worldwide leaf economics spectrum” consists of a suite of intercorrelated leaf traits, among which leaf mass per area, LMA, is one of the most fundamental as it indicates the cost of leaf construction and light-interception borne by plants. We conducted a broad-scale analysis of the evolutionary history of LMA across a large dataset of 5401 vascular plant species. The phylogenetic signal in LMA displayed low but significant conservatism, that is, leaf economics tended to be more similar among close relatives than expected by chance alone. Models of trait evolution indicated that LMA evolved under weak stabilizing selection. Moreover, results suggest that different optimal phenotypes evolved among large clades within which extremes tended to be selected against. Conservatism in LMA was strongly related to growth form, as were selection intensity and phenotypic evolutionary rates: woody plants showed higher conservatism in relation to stronger stabilizing selection and lower evolutionary rates compared to herbaceous taxa. The evolutionary history of LMA thus paints different evolutionary trajectories of vascular plant species across clades, revealing the coordination of leaf trait evolution with growth forms in response to varying selection regimes. Fil: Flores, Olivier. Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive; Francia. Université de la Réunion; Francia Fil: Garnier, Eric. Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive; Francia Fil: Wright, Ian J.. Macquarie University. Department of Biological Sciences; Australia Fil: Reich, Peter B.. University of Minnesota. Department of Forest Resources and Institute on the Environment; Estados Unidos. University of Western Sydney. Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment; Australia Fil: Pierce, Simon. University of Milan. Department of Plant Production; Italia Fil: Diaz, Sandra Myrna. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; Argentina Fil: Pakeman, Robin J... James Hutton Institute; Reino Unido Fil: Rusch, Graciela M.. Norwegian Institute for Nature Research; Noruega Fil: Bernard Verdier, Maud. Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive; Francia Fil: Testi, Baptiste. Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive; Francia Fil: Bakker, Jan P.. Community and Conservation Ecology Group; Países Bajos Fil: Bekker, Renee M.. Community and Conservation Ecology Group; Países Bajos Fil: Cerabolini, Bruno. Universita degli Studi dell’Insubria; Italia Fil: Ceriani, Roberta. Centro Flora Autoctona; Italia Fil: Cornu, Guillaume. Department Environment and Societies Research Unit Forests and Societies; Francia Fil: Cruz, Pablo. Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique; Francia Fil: Delcamp, Matthieu. Department Environment and Societies Research Unit Forests and Societies; Francia Fil: Dolezal, Jiri. Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. Institute of Botany; República Checa Fil: Eriksson, Ove. Stockholm University. Department of Botany; Suecia Fil: Fayolle, Adeline. Department Environment and Societies Research Unit Forests and Societies; Francia Fil: Freitas, Helena. University of Coimbra. Centre for Functional Ecology; Portugal Fil: Golodets, Carly. Faculty of Life Sciences. Department of Molecular Biology and Ecology of Plants; Israel Fil: Gourlet Fleury, Sylvie. Department Environment and Societies Research Unit Forests and Societies; Francia Fil: Hodgson, John. The University. Department of Archaeology; Reino Unido Fil: Brusa, Guido. Universitá degli Studi dell’Insubria; Italia Fil: Kleyer, Michael. Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg. Landscape Ecology Group; Alemania Fil: Kunzmann, Dieter. Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg. Landscape Ecology Group; Alemania Fil: Lavorel, Sandra. Universite Joseph Fourier. Laboratoire d’Ecologie Alpine and Station Alpine Joseph Fourier; Francia Fil: Papanastasis, Vasilios. Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Laboratory of Rangeland Ecology; Grecia Fil: Perez Harguindeguy, Natalia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; Argentina Fil: Vendramini, Fernanda. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; Argentina Fil: Weiher, Evan. University of Wisconsin Eau Claire. Department of Biology; Estados Unidos

Worldwide decomposition rates depend both on climate and the legacy of plant functional traits as litter quality. To quantify the degree to which functional differentiation among species affects their litter decomposition rates, we brought together leaf trait and litter mass loss data for 818 species from 66 decomposition experiments on six continents. We show that: (i) the magnitude of species-driven differences is much larger than previously thought and greater than climate-driven variation; (ii) the decomposability of a species' litter is consistently correlated with that species' ecological strategy within different ecosystems globally, representing a new connection between whole plant carbon strategy and biogeochemical cycling. This connection between plant strategies and decomposability is crucial for both understanding vegetation-soil feedbacks, and for improving forecasts of the global carbon cycle. © 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd/CNRS.

Different components of functional biodiversity, such as functional type richness and composition, have been reported to affect the decomposition of litter mixtures. In spite of the numerous reports of these effects, mechanisms underlying patterns of decomposition in litter mixtures are still unclear. We analyzed whether mixture decomposition was affected by: (a) the number of species in the mixture (mixture richness); and (b) the mixture’s functional composition (% of fast- vs. slow-decomposing species included in the mixture). We then tested if variation between observed and expected values of decomposition in mixtures was associated to: (c) the initial litter characteristics of the component species (initial nitrogen, lignin, cellulose and hemicellulose content of litters); and (d) the chemical heterogeneity of the mixtures (variation in the same chemical compounds between the components in each mixture). When up to 5 species representing different functional types were included, both species richness and functional composition showed statistically significant non-additive, and in general positive, effects on litter mixture decomposition. The positive effect of mixture richness on decomposition did not disappear, but was much less marked, when considering mixture with slow-decomposing species only. Although the main driver of decomposition in a mixture is still the average decomposability of the component species (itself largely determined by litter quality), the species interactions in a mixture add a consistent source of variability that is worth considering when predicting the decomposability of a given mixture. We showed that a greater positive difference between observed decomposition rates and that expected from its component species alone was found in mixtures with higher mean nitrogen content and a higher heterogeneity in non-labile compounds. Our results offer quantitative proof that litter chemical heterogeneity, as well as the mean quality of the mixture, can affect the decomposability in litter mixtures. Fil: Perez Harguindeguy, Natalia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; Argentina Fil: Blundo, Cecilia Mabel. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina Fil: Gurvich, Diego Ezequiel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; Argentina Fil: Diaz, Sandra Myrna. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; Argentina Fil: Cuevas, Elvira. Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas; Venezuela