DOI: 10.5061/dryad.6wwpzgn98
title: Interactive effects of plant litter type and yak excrement on litter decomposition in a shrub-encroached alpine meadow

description: In the plant community with a shrub-grass mosaic, the main types of litter
 include herbaceous litter and its mixed forms with shrub leaves and stems.
 However, the quantitative relationship between the litter composition type
 and the litter decomposition, as well as how these processes are
 influenced by grazing activities (e.g., excrement deposition), remains
 largely unexplored.  Herein, a three-year litter incubation
 experiment was conducted in a shrub-encroached alpine meadow. We aimed to
 elucidate the individual and interactive effects of litter type (solely
 grass litter (L), a mixture of grass litter and shrub leaves (L1), and a
 mixture of grass litter, shrub leaves, and shrub stems (L2)) and yak
 excrement addition (no addition, addition of dung only, addition of urine
 only, addition of both dung and urine) on the litter decomposition rate
 and nutrients release. Additionally, the initial chemical quality of
 litter, soil microclimate, soil nutrients, and soil microbial attributes
 were analyzed to ascertain the underlying driving mechanisms.  We
 found that litter type and yak excrement had significant individual and
 interactive effects on litter decomposition. Specifically, litter type
 primarily affected litter decomposition by increasing initial carbon and
 lignin concentration and reducing the nitrogen and phosphorus
 concentration of the litter. In contrast, yak excrement positively
 impacted litter decomposition through enhancing soil pH and soil microbial
 activity. Crucially, low-quality litter (L2) mitigated the positive
 effects of yak excrement on litter decomposition. While the addition of
 yak excrement did not alter the overall direction of litter decomposition,
 it influenced the magnitude of the effects caused by litter mixing.
 Notably, temporary nitrogen immobilization was observed during the early
 stages of decomposition, and net phosphorus release patterns were evident
 throughout the decomposition process. However, the duration of nitrogen
 immobilization differed depending on the litter type and yak excrement
 treatment.  Our findings provide localized evidences that
 elucidates the interactive effects of litter type and yak excrement
 addition on litter decomposition and nutrient release processes. These
 results contribute to a deeper understanding of how grazing activity
 modulate nutrient cycling in shrub-encroached grassland ecosystems.
description: # Interactive effects of plant litter type and yak excrement on litter
 decomposition in a shrub-encroached alpine meadow Dataset DOI:
 10.5061/dryad.6wwpzgn98 Authors: Yingxin Wang Email:
 [wangyingxin14@lzu.edu.cn](mailto:wangyingxin14@lzu.edu.cn) Other
 contributors: Zhou, Qingping; Chu, Jianmin; Zhang, Jinxin; Hou, Fujiang*
 Organization: State Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland
 Agro-ecosystems; Key Laboratory of Grassland Livestock Industry
 Innovation, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs; College of Pastoral
 Agriculture Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730020,
 China Date created: 2025-4-25 Methods of data collection/generation: see
 article for details ## Description of the data and file structure This
 dataset has two .csv files with (1: Plant litter remaining, 2: Initial
 quality of litter) in the article, specifically as follow: For the data of
 Plant litter remaining, the variations include Dry matter residual mass
 (g), Hemicellulose remaining (%), Lignin remaining (%), Total N remaining
 (%), and Total P remaining (%). The microsite has four replicates. the
 sampling includes the initial substrate data in October 2017 and the
 subsequent days of 60 (December 2017), 180 (April 2018), 300 (August
 2018), 420 (December 2018), 540 (April 2019) and 660 (August 2019). Plant
 litter types: solely grass litter (L), a mixture of grass litter and shrub
 leaves (L1), and a mixture of grass litter, shrub leaves, and shrub stems
 (L2)). Yak excrement addition: no addition (CK), addition of dung only
 (D), addition of urine only (U), addition of both dung and urine (DU). For
 the data on Initial quality of litter, the variations include C (litter
 total carbon, %), N (litter total nitrogen, %), P (litter total
 phosphorus, %), Hemicellulose (litter hemicellulose, %), Lignin (litter
 lignin, %), C/N (C: N ratio), C/P (C: P ratio), Lignin/N (Lignin: N
 ratio), N/P (N: P ratio), and Lignin/P (Lignin: P ratio). Plant litter
 types: solely grass litter (L), a mixture of grass litter and shrub leaves
 (L1), and a mixture of grass litter, shrub leaves, and shrub stems (L2)).
 Each litter type has six replicates.