1. The TeaComposition Initiative: Unleashing the power of international collaboration to understand litter decomposition
- Author
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Djukic, Ika, Kepfer-Rojas, Sebastian, Schmidt, Inger Kappel, Larsen, Klaus Steenberg, Beier, Claus, Berg, Björn, Verheyen, Kris, Trevathan-Tackett, Stacey M., Macreadie, Peter I., Bierbaumer, Michael, Patoine, Guillaume, Eisenhauer, Nico, Guerra, Carlos A., Maestre, Fernando T., Hagedorn, Frank, Oggioni, Alessandro, Bergami, Caterina, Magagna, Barbara, Kwon, TaeOh, Shibata, Hideaki, TeaComposition initiative, Universidad de Alicante. Departamento de Ecología, and Universidad de Alicante. Instituto Multidisciplinar para el Estudio del Medio 'Ramón Margalef'
- Subjects
0106 biological sciences ,tea bags ,010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences ,harmonized data ,Tea bags ,Essential variable ,010603 evolutionary biology ,01 natural sciences ,Microbiology ,Harmonized data ,12. Responsible consumption ,TeaComposition initiative ,networking networks ,11. Sustainability ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences ,Standard Observations ,Networking the Networks ,Litter decomposition ,Networking networks ,Ecología ,Litter Carbon Turnover ,QR1-502 ,Tea bag ,QL1-991 ,13. Climate action ,Zoology - Abstract
Collected harmonized data on global litter decomposition are of great relevance for scientists, policymakers, and for education of the next generation of researchers and environmental managers. Here we describe the TeaComposition initiative, a global and open research collaborative network to study organic matter decomposition in a standardized way allowing comparison of decomposition rate and carbon turnover across global and regional gradients of ecosystems, climate, soils etc. The TeaComposition initiative today involves 570 terrestrial and 300 aquatic ecosystems from nine biomes worldwide. Further, we describe how to get involved in the TeaComposition initiative by (a) implementing the standard protocol within your study site, (b) joining task forces in data analyses, syntheses and modelling efforts, (c) using collected data and samples for further analyses through joint projects, (d) using collected data for graduate seminars, and (e) strengthening synergies between biogeochemical research and a wide range of stakeholders. These collaborative efforts within/emerging from the TeaComposition initiative, thereby, will leverage our understanding on litter decomposition at the global scale and strengthen global collaborations essential for addressing grand scientific challenges in a rapidly changing world. This work was performed within the TeaComposition and TeaComposition H2O initiatives, carried by 290 institutions worldwide. We thank to UNILEVER for sponsoring the Lipton tea bags. The initiative is supported by the following grants: ILTER Initiative Grants, ClimMani Short-Term Scientific Missions Grants, INTERACT Remote Transnational Access and an Alfred Deakin Postdoctoral Research Fellowship. Nico Eisenhauer gratefully acknowledges the support of iDiv funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG– FZT 118, 202548816). ST-T was supported by the ARC DE210101029 and Deakin University’s ADPR Fellowship. Fernando T. Maestre acknowledges support from the European Research Council (ERC Grant agreement 647038 [BIODESERT]) and Generalitat Valenciana (CIDEGENT/2018/041).
- Published
- 2021
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