While species may coexist at population level, their individuals may still segregate, at least temporarily, and hence interact little. Aggregation among heterospecific individuals may require particular during-life traits, for example, traits limiting competition for space or resources. But is aggregation also facilitated by after-life traits accelerating decomposition of plant litters, notably through synergy among co-decomposing litters? We investigated the role of leaf traits, litter traits and litter-mixture decomposition in the spatial aggregation of individuals of pairs of grassland species in a long-term mesocosm experiment. We related aggregation between pairs of species to mean and dissimilarity in (a) during-life traits related to resource-acquisition and clonal dispersal, (b) after-life traits related to decomposition and (c) rate and synergy of decomposition. In most years, aggregation of heterospecific individuals strongly increased with means of (a) during-life clonal traits reducing competition for space, and (b) after-life traits increasing litter decomposition. Trait dissimilarities had comparatively less influence. Interestingly, in the last year, synergistic decomposition among litters improved species aggregation. Overall, after-life interactions due to fast and synergistic decomposition appear to increase during-life aggregation between individuals of different plant species. We introduce the concept of 'associational decomposition', equivalent to associational resistance, but mediated via decomposers rather than enemies. A freePlain Language Summarycan be found within the Supporting Information of this article.

中文翻译：

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关联分解：分解凋落物之间的死后特征和相互作用控制植物物种的生前聚集

虽然物种可能在种群水平共存，但它们的个体可能仍然隔离，至少是暂时的，因此很少相互作用。异种个体之间的聚集可能需要特定的生命特征，例如限制空间或资源竞争的特征。但是，死后特征是否也促进了植物凋落物的分解，特别是通过共同分解凋落物之间的协同作用？我们在长期中观实验中研究了叶片性状、凋落物性状和凋落物-混合物分解在成对草地物种个体空间聚集中的作用。我们将物种对之间的聚集与（a）与资源获取和克隆扩散相关的生命特征的均值和差异联系起来，(b) 与分解有关的死后特征和 (c) 分解的速率和协同作用。在大多数年份，异种特异性个体的聚集随着（a）生前克隆性状减少空间竞争和（b）死后性状增加凋落物分解的方式而显着增加。性状差异的影响相对较小。有趣的是，在去年，凋落物之间的协同分解改善了物种聚集。总体而言，由于快速和协同分解导致的死后相互作用似乎增加了不同植物物种个体之间的生前聚集。我们引入了“关联分解”的概念，相当于关联抵抗，但通过分解者而不是敌人进行调解。