Influences of Carrion Decomposition on Soil Nutrient Leakage in a Boreal Forest

Source: PubMed Central Open Access, NCBI / U.S. National Library of Medicine

ABSTRACT Carrion decomposition can significantly alter local soil chemical composition. Although a wide range of chemical elements is essential for plants and/or animals, hence ecosystem functioning, most studies on biochemical effects of carrion decomposition have focused on only a few macronutrients. Moreover, existing studies have been conducted in temperate and (semi‐)arid ecosystems, leaving a knowledge gap for biochemical effects in boreal ecosystems, where carrion decomposition is generally slower. Here, we examined how carrion decomposition time, estimated based on vertebrate scavenger activity, influenced 25 soil elemental concentrations and soil pH at carrion sites in a boreal forest in Trøndelag, Norway. We found that longer estimated decomposition times resulted in increased concentrations of nitrogen (N), sodium (Na) and boron (B) in the soil. Some of these elements may be limiting primary production and are likely to be scarce in the study area (e.g., N and B). We encourage further investigation of the consequences of carrion decomposition on local soil biochemistry across ecosystems, taking local abiotic and biotic conditions into account. We studied elemental leakage into the soil due to carrion decomposition in a boreal forest in Norway. We found that longer carrion decomposition times resulted in increased concentrations of N, Na and B in the soil. To our knowledge, we are the first that included a wide range of chemical elements in our analysis, including m