Insect herbivory has great impact on biogeochemical cycling in forest ecosystems, but experimental tests on the herbivory‐decomposability relationships at the interspecific level are rare. We conducted a 400‐day field decomposition experiment in a temperate mixed deciduous forest and measured mass remaining rate, decomposition constant, total loss of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) of leaf litter with/without obvious damage by chewing insects for different tree species. We found that herbivory effect on initial litter quality (C:N ratio) varied with species, leading to a substantial decrease for Morus alba (−5.78%) and an enhancement for Quercus acutissima (+5.35%). Herbivory damage increased the decomposition constant for M. alba and Liquidambar formosana with higher specific leaf area (SLA), but decreased it for Diospyros kaki and Q. acutissima with lower SLA. These contrasting effects of insect herbivory on litter decomposition could be attributed to the differential responses of litter initial quality (C:N ratio) of each species to herbivory damage. Herbivory‐induced decline of leaf C:N ratio could increase the decomposition constant of species with higher SLA. Our finding that herbivory damage showed interspecific variability in both litter quality and decomposition rate suggests that insect herbivore‐induced feedbacks to nutrient cycling and ecosystem function should be estimated at the species level in multispecies mixed deciduous forest.

中文翻译：

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温带落叶林中食草对叶片凋落物分解的影响随特定叶面积而变化

昆虫食草对森林生态系统中的生物地球化学循环有很大的影响，但是在种间水平上对食草-分解性关系的实验测试很少。我们在温带落叶落叶林中进行了400天的野外分解实验，并测量了不同种类树的咀嚼昆虫是否有明显的伤害，叶子的凋落物的质量残留率，分解常数，总碳（C）和氮（N）的损失种类。我们发现初始垫料质量即虫食的效果：与物种变化（C N比），导致对大量减少桑白皮（-5.78％）和用于增强麻栎（+ 5.35％）。食草性伤害增加了M的分解常数。阿尔巴和枫香具有较高的比叶面积（SLA），但对柿叶柿和Q降低。具有较低SLA的acutissima。昆虫食草对凋落物分解的这些相反影响可以归因于每种物种的凋落物初始质量（C：N比）对食草性损害的不同响应。食草动物引起的叶片碳氮比的下降可能会增加具有较高SLA的物种的分解常数。我们的发现，草食动物的损害在凋落物质量和分解速率上均表现出种间差异，这表明应该在多物种混交落叶林的物种层面上估计昆虫食草动物对养分循环和生态系统功能的反馈。