Gurbantunggut Desert, located at the hinterland of the Jungger Basin in Xinjiang of China is the largest fixed and semifixed desert in China. Rapid snowmelt in spring favors growth of ephemerals and perennials, which is of great ecological function in wind prevention and sand fixation.

Numerous studies showed that litter decomposition of plants is an important process and is closely linked to the content of nutrients, ecosystem productivity, and nutrient cycling. However, it is unclear whether life-forms of ephemerals and perennials play an important role on decomposition and nutrient dynamics. Therefore, the researchers from Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences selected three common plant species with different life-forms (ephemeral herbs Erodium oxyrrhynchu and Eremurus inderiensis, perennial Seriphidium santolinum) in Gurbantunggut Desert, and compared the mass loss and nutrient dynamics of their litter decomposition process. They also analyzed the cause for the differences in decomposition pattern between aboveground litter and root litter.

Their study represents that the decomposition rates of ephemeral herbs were faster than that of perennial after 2 years. The content of neutral soluble detergent was positively correlated with mass loss and responsible for the faster rates in the primary decomposition phase. Their study also reveals that the differences in mass loss and N release between aboveground and belowground litter for different litter types.

The results conclude that the decomposition rate and nutrient release in the desert are closely linked to initial nutrients, C contents of litters and life forms of plants, which was archived at Biology and Fertility of Soils in July 2014.