Fig. 4: Potential changes in decomposition rates due to global change drivers.

Violin plots and boxplots showing potential increases (%) in the process of decomposition (mass loss) resulting from diversity change or climatic warming, estimated for the study locations of the present meta-analysis (57 studies in the forest biomes). These estimates were based on the climate-equivalency of the diversity effects (Fig. 3a) and the standardized climate–decomposition relationships. Diversifying plant litter from mono- to mixed-species could increase the decomposition by 34.7% (mean). Based on the future projections of climate changes in these study locations (increases in annual mean temperature; CMIP5 RCP 2.6 and 8.5; Fig. 3a), decomposition could be increased by 13.6% and 26.4% (means), respectively. The violin plots represent the kernel probability density of the values. The boxplots denote the interquartile range (box) and median (centre line) of the values.