Increase inabovegroundfreshlitterquantityover-stimulatessoil respiration inatemperatedeciduousforest

In the context of climate change, the amount of carbon allocated to soil, particularly fresh litter, is predicted to increase with terrestrial ecosystem productivity, and may alter soil carbon storage capacities. In this study we performed a 1-year litter-manipulation experiment to examine how soil CO2 efflux was altered by the amount of fresh litter. Three treatments were applied: litter exclusion (E), control (C, natural amount: 486 g m −2 ) and litter addition (A, twice the natural amount: 972 g m −2