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Participant: part of or influencing processes

Decomposers

Appears in 23 processs and 52 steps. Everything below is linked: open a process to see it in context.

Top processes

Organic matter decomposition

11 steps

Start: Litter and dead roots arrive
End: Decomposition products
Enzymatic depolymerization of plant polymers
and 8 more in this process

Ecoenzymatic stoichiometry: matching enzymes to nutrient limitation

7 steps

Start: Microbes compare supply with C:N:P demand
End: Enzyme investment balanced
Microbial biomass C:N:P demand versus resource supply sets the limiting element
and 4 more in this process

Enzymatic depolymerization of plant polymers

5 steps

Start: Polymers outside the cell
End: Monomers available for uptake
Microbes sense substrate scarcity and release enzymes
and 2 more in this process

Energy transfer through food webs

3 steps

Enzyme kinetics: Michaelis-Menten rates and temperature response

3 steps

Trophic efficiency and top-down control

3 steps

Show 17 more processes

Detrital energy channel

3 steps

Biological uptake, litter return and mineralization

2 steps

Terrestrial ecosystem functioning

1 step

Energy transfer through food webs

Living soil system

1 step

Organic matter decomposition

Energy capture by living things

1 step

Respiration and decay release stored energy as heat

Soil food web energy transfer

1 step

Energy channel

Nutrient cycling

1 step

Biological uptake, litter return and mineralization

Nitrogen cycling

1 step

Organic nitrogen is mineralized to ammonium (ammonification)

Mineral-associated organic matter (MAOM) formation

1 step

Mineral association protects from enzymes and microbes

Soil sulfur cycling

1 step

Microbes oxidize carbon and release C-bonded S as sulfate along with CO2

Base cation cycling (calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium)

1 step

Litterfall, canopy throughfall and root turnover return cations to the surface soil (biocycling)

Microbial necromass pathway to stable organic matter

1 step

Dissolved necromass leaches or respired during decay

Soil thermal regime and heat flow

1 step

Warm soil speeds decomposition and nitrogen mineralisation and extends root and microbial activity

Mineral surface area, reactive metals and the saturation of mineral-associated carbon

1 step

Mineral-associated carbon turns over in centuries to millennia, versus years to decades for particulate organic matter

Litter quality and soil fertility reinforcing loop

1 step

High C:N litter decomposes slowly and decomposers immobilise nitrogen

Nitrogen fixation supply-demand feedback

1 step

Fixer litter and root turnover add nitrogen to the soil

Plant-soil feedback and species coexistence

1 step

Changed species mix changes litter quality and root inputs

Often found with

Carbon 18 Nitrogen 16 Extracellular enzymes 11 Plants 7 Herbivores 6 Predators 6 Carbon dioxide 5 Enzymes 5 Phosphorus 5 Plant litter 5 Organic carbon 4 Energy 3

Known by 719 participants and resources across the map.