IAI-Data-CRN_012_VIVANCO_TRIA: Effect of aboveground diversity on belowground processes in Patagonia

Our hypothesis is that aboveground diversity produces long-term effects on soil biota and carbon and nitrogen pools that consequently affect decomposition. The study was conducted in an old-growth mixed Nothofagus (southern beech) forest (40 08 S, 71 30 W), in Patagonia, Argentina.

The plot was defined as the triangular area below the intersection of the canopies of three trees. The diversity treatments included triangles composed of three trees of a single species N. dombeyi, N. obliqua, or N. nervosa), while high diversity triangles consisted of the intersections of the three different Nothofagus species. We placed litterbags with two common litter types (Populus nigra and Gingko biloba) and with litter of the Nothofagus species and a mixture of them within these triangles.