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Resource: used or used up in processes

Plant litter

Appears in 22 processs and 32 steps. Everything below is linked: open a process to see it in context.

Top processes

Litter quality and soil fertility reinforcing loop

4 steps

Biological coupling: organic matter and soil food web

3 steps

Fire-vegetation feedback and savanna-forest states

3 steps

Terrestrial carbon uptake and release

2 steps

Biological uptake, litter return and mineralization

2 steps

Vegetation-water feedback and dryland patchiness

2 steps

Show 16 more processes

Living soil system

1 step

Biological coupling: organic matter and soil food web

Nutrient cycling

1 step

Biological uptake, litter return and mineralization

Nitrogen cycling

1 step

Plant litter and dead roots return organic nitrogen to soil

Phosphorus cycling

1 step

Plant litter returns organic phosphorus to soil

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

1 step

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

Bioturbation: fauna remodel soil structure

1 step

Earthworms ingest soil and litter and mix organic with mineral material

Biochar and charcoal in soil

1 step

Pyrolysis or wildfire turns biomass into aromatic carbon charcoal

Carbon priming, microbial efficiency and soil carbon sequestration

1 step

Plant inputs, residue return and cover crops raise carbon input

Pedogenesis and soil horizon development

1 step

Organic matter accumulates at the surface forming the O and A horizons

Soil disturbance (fire, tillage, drought) and recovery

1 step

Fire heats the soil surface and burns the litter layer

Soil evaporation stages and capillary rise from shallow groundwater

1 step

Organic mulch or litter cover cuts soil evaporation, by about 5 percent per 10 percent of surface covered

Terrestrial nutrient cycling

1 step

Litter quality and soil fertility reinforcing loop

Nitrogen fixation supply-demand feedback

1 step

Fixer litter and root turnover add nitrogen to the soil

Nutrient recycling versus new inputs across ecosystem age

1 step

Litter returns nutrients to the surface soil where fine roots concentrate

Plant-soil feedback and species coexistence

1 step

Changed species mix changes litter quality and root inputs

Organism-environment interactions

1 step

Fire-vegetation feedback and savanna-forest states

Often found with

Plants 17 Nitrogen 13 Carbon 7 Decomposers 5 Fire 5 Soil microbes 4 Soil fauna 4 Soil organic matter 4 Soil 4 Water 4 Plant roots 3 Fungi 3

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