According to the widely accepted triangle model, global litter decomposition is collectively controlled by climate, litter initial quality, and decomposers. However, the specific contribution of soil arthropods to litter, especially the non-leaf litter, the decomposition of terrestrial ecosystems and its drivers are still unclear. We conducted a global meta-analysis based on 268 pairs of data to determine the contribution and pattern of soil arthropods to branch, stem, and root litter decomposition in farmlands, forests, and grasslands and analyzed the relationship of soil arthropods’ decomposition effect and potential drivers. Our results showed that: (1) soil arthropods increased global non-leaf litter mass loss by 32.3%; (2) the contribution varied with climate zone and ecosystem type, with a value of subtropical (53.3%) > temperate (18.7%) > tropical (14.7%) and of farmlands (40.6%) > grasslands (34.3%) > forests (0.6%), respectively; (3) the soil arthropods’ decomposition effect gradually decreased with decomposition time, and it was higher in litterbags with a mesh size of 1–2 mm (65.4%) and >2 mm (49.8%) than that of 0.5–1 mm (13.6%); (4) the soil arthropods’ decomposition effects were negatively correlated with the litter initial C/N ratio, mean annual precipitation (MAP; p < 0.001), and elevation and was positively correlated with litter weight. In conclusion, soil arthropod promoted global non-leaf litter decomposition, and the contribution varied with climate zone, ecosystem type, and decomposition time as well as litterbag mesh size. Overall, this study improves the understanding of soil arthropods driving global non-leaf litter decomposition.

Background and Aims : Soil phosphorus (P) regulates plant productivity. However, the medium to long-term time-scale effects of reforestation on the P recycle of plants, litter, and soil continuum, thus regulating soil P storage, especially deep-soil P fractions dynamics, are unclear. Methods We determined soil (0 ~ 100 cm) P fractions, root and leaf N/P ratio, leaf-litter P concentration, and biogeochemical drivers in 32-, 45-, and 60-year-old Pinus massoniana reforestations in southwest China. Results The storages of soil labile, moderately labile, and occluded P in the 45- and 60-year stands were lower than the 32-year stand. The concentrations of NaHCO₃-Pi, NaHCO₃-Po, and total labile P in top-soil were lower while those in sub- and bottom-soil were not significantly in the 45- and 60-year stands compared to the 32-year stand. The concentrations of all soil layer NaOH-Po and total moderately labile P were lower in the 45- and 60-year stands than the 32-year stand. The concentrations of all soil layers C.HCl-Pi and total occluded P were lower in the 60-year stand than the 32-year stand. The leaf N/P ratio and top-soil C/P ratio and acid phosphatase were higher and the leaf-litter P concentration was lower in the older stands. Conclusions P. massoniana secreted more acid phosphatase and increased leaf P resorption to compensate for the drop in soil P-availability with stand age, which in turn decreased leaf-litter P input and thus resulted in a depletion of soil P. Overall, our results highlighted that P limitation increased with stand maturity in P. massoniana reforestations.