Complementary resource use by functionally different species may accelerate ecosystem processes. However, how co‐variation in plant traits and animal traits promotes complementarity through temporal plant–animal interactions is poorly understood, even less so in detrital systems, thereby hampering our fundamental understanding of decomposition and carbon turnover. We hypothesised that, in seasonal subtropical forests where termites are major deadwood decomposers, trait complementarity of both termite species and tree species should promote overall deadwood decomposition through different seasons and years. Findings from a four‐year coarse wood decomposition experiment involving 27 tree and 5 termite species support this hypothesis. Phenological and mandibular traits of the two most abundant termite species controlled wood decomposition of tree species differing in wood traits, through the seasons over 4 years, thereby promoting overall deadwood decomposition rates. Our findings indicate that complementarity in functional trait co‐variation in plants and animals plays an important role in carbon cycling.

中文翻译：

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白蚁和树木物种性状的季节性变化相互作用促进了粗木材分解的互补性


功能不同的物种对资源的互补利用可能会加速生态系统进程。然而，人们对植物性状和动物性状的协变如何通过时间性植物-动物相互作用促进互补性知之甚少，在碎屑系统中更是如此，从而阻碍了我们对分解和碳周转的基本理解。我们假设，在白蚁是主要枯枝木分解者的季节性亚热带森林中，白蚁物种和乔木物种的性状互补性应该促进不同季节和年份的整体枯枝木分解。一项涉及 27 种树木和 5 种白蚁的为期四年的粗木材分解实验的结果支持了这一假设。两种最丰富的白蚁物种的物候和下颌特征控制了木材性状不同的树种在 4 年多的季节中的木材分解，从而提高了整体枯木分解速率。我们的研究结果表明，植物和动物功能性状协变的互补性在碳循环中起着重要作用。