Fig. 6: Mean effect size of secondary ecosystem on microbial necromass carbon and plant detritus carbon compared to native ecosystem.
From: Plant detritus carbon dominates over microbial necromass carbon in topsoil of alpine ecosystems
A Croplands; B deserts. Legacy croplands and natural deserts are classified as native ecosystems; converted croplands and converted deserts are classified as secondary ecosystems. In calculating the effect size, legacy cropland was the control group (n = 54), and converted cropland was the treatment group (n = 27). Similarly, natural desert was the control group (n = 27), and converted desert was the treatment group (n = 27). PDC plant detritus carbon, V vanillyl phenols, S syringyl phenols, C cinnamyl phenols, (Ad/Al)v = acid-to-aldehyde ratios of vanillyl phenols, (Ad/Al)s = acid-to-aldehyde ratios of syringyl phenols. MNC microbial necromass carbon, BNC bacterial necromass carbon, FNC fungal necromass carbon, B/F = ratio of bacterial necromass carbon to fungal necromass carbon. The horizontal lines represent the confidence interval (95% CIs) of the effect size (log response ratios), from the lower confidence limit to the upper confidence limit. Asterisks indicate statistical significance, where ***P < 0.001; **<P < 0.01; and *<P < 0.05.
