Leroy Céline auteur aut IRD Corbara B. auteur aut IRD Dezerald O. auteur aut IRD Trzcinski M. K. auteur aut IRD Carrias J. F. auteur aut IRD Dejean A. auteur aut IRD Cereghino R. auteur aut IRD text journalArticle eng text/pdf born digital access Decomposition experiments that control leaf litter species across environments help to disentangle the roles of litter traits and consumer diversity, but once we account for leaf litter effects, they tell us little about the variance in decomposition explained by shifts in environmental conditions versus food-web structure. We evaluated how habitat, food-web structure, leaf litter species, and the interactions between these factors affect litter mass loss in a neotropical ecosystem. We used water-filled bromeliads to conduct a reciprocal transplant experiment of two litter species between an open and a forested habitat in French Guiana, and coarse- and fine-mesh enclosures embedded within bromeliads to exclude invertebrates or allow them to colonize leaf litter disks. Soft Melastomataceae leaves decomposed faster in their home habitat, whereas tough Eperua leaves decomposed equally in both habitats. Bacterial densities did not differ significantly between the two habitats. Significant shifts in the identity and biomass of invertebrate detritivores across habitats did not generate differences in leaf litter decomposition, which was essentially microbial. Despite the obvious effects of habitats on food-web structure, ecosystem processes are not necessarily affected. Our results pose the question of when does environmental determinism matter for ecosystem functions, and when does it not. specialized Context dependency Ecosystem function Food webs Leaf litter Phytotelmata Rainforest GUYANE FRANCAISE 076 082 074 802 1 85-95 2017 0018-8158 https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010071024 10.1007/s10750-017-3242-z 0018-8158 [F B010071024] https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010071024 https://www.documentation.ird.fr/intranet/publi/2017/10/010071024.pdf Accès réservé (Intranet de l'IRD) IRD - Base Horizon / Pleins textes 2017-10-31 2023-07-11 fdi:010071024 fre