DOI: 10.5061/dryad.w9ghx3g0g
title: Data from: Faster than expected: Release of nitrogen and phosphorus from decomposing woody litter

description: Deadwood represents globally important carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus
 pools. Current wood nutrient dynamics models are extensions of those
 developed for leaf litter decomposition. However, tissue structure and
 dominant decomposers differ between leaf and woody litter, and recent
 evidence suggests that decomposer stoichiometry in combination with litter
 quality may affect nutrient release. We quantified decomposition and
 release of carbon and nutrients from woody litter for two stem sizes of 22
 tree species in a phosphorus-limited temperate forest near Sydney,
 Australia and compared these to estimates from leaf litter literature.
 Following theory, nitrogen and phosphorus accumulated during early
 decomposition, but began to decline earlier than expected based on work in
 leaves. Woody litter converged on higher carbon:nitrogen (50) and
 nitrogen:phosphorus (80) ratios than in leaf litter studies.
 Carbon:nitrogen at which nitrogen was released was higher in larger stems
 (~135) than smaller stems (~95); both being higher than in leaf litter.
 Drawing from the literature, these differences in nitrogen and phosphorus
 dynamics may be due to the identity of wood decomposers. Carbon:nitrogen
 of wood decomposers is higher than mean carbon:nitrogen of leaf litter
 decomposers, and this difference in stoichiometry may have important
 flow-on effects for nutrient cycles in forests.
description: Briefly, wood blocks from 22 species were set out to decay over 5
 years during which nutrient and carbon contents were collected at regular
 time intervals. 
description: # Data from: Faster than expected: Release of nitrogen and phosphorus from
 decomposing woody litter This repository contains the code and data for
 the paper entitled "Faster than expected: Release of nitrogen and
 phosphorus from decomposing woody litter" ## Files in Repository The
 repository contains the following data files: * `traitdat_final.csv`: This
 file contains the trait data for the 22 tree species used in the study.
 The columns are as follows: * `unique`: Unique identifier for the piece of
 wood * `code`: Species the stem belongs to (larger size stem if it is in
 capital letters) * `codeStem`: The stem that the piece of wood belonged to
 * `hostSpecies`: Species the stem belongs to * `size`: size of the stem *
 `time`: time of harvest (in months) * `trait`: nutrient for which the
 measurement is made (N = Nitrogen (%), C = Carbon (%), P = Phosphorus
 (ppm)) * `trait.val`: value of the measurement (% for N and C, ppm for P)
 * `mass_remain.csv`: This file contains the mass remaining data for the 22
 tree species used in the study. The columns are as follows: * `unique`:
 Unique identifier for the piece of wood * `code`: Species the stem belongs
 to (larger size stem if it is in capital letters) * `codeStem`: The stem
 that the piece of wood belonged to * `species`: Species the stem belongs
 to * `size`: size of the stem * `time`: time of harvest (in months) *
 `pmr`: proportion mass remaining of the piece of wood at the time of
 harvest The repository contains the following code files: *
 `preparing_data.R`: This script reads the raw data files and prepares the
 data for analysis. * `functions_final.R`: This script contains the
 functions used in the analysis. * `codetoPLot_Analyse.Rmd`: This script
 contains the code to reproduce the analysis and figures in the paper.