REGULAR ARTICLE Decomposition and nitrogen transformation rates in a temperate grassland vary among co-occurring plant species Yui Osanai & Anna Flittner & Jasmine K. Janes & Phil Theobald & Elise Pendall & Paul C. D. Newton & Mark J. Hovenden Received: 22 March 2011 /Accepted: 11 July 2011 /Published online: 30 July 2011 # Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011 Abstract Background and aims Decomposition of organic matter varies depending upon interactions between the composition of the organic matter and the source of the microbial community, with differences in these interactions among vegetation types leading to the Home Field Advantage (HFA) hypothesis whereby decomposition of litters is faster in soils previously conditioned by them. It is possible that HFA operates on smaller scales within plant communities with ecosystem processes responding to subtle changes of plant community dominance. Methods and results Using field measurements and laboratory incubations, we found a strong plant species effect on nitrogen availability and trans- formations and the relative importance of autotrophic and heterotrophic processes to nitrification. We found that the origin of the soil microbial community had little influence on litter decomposition when litter quality was high but was important with low-quality litter, most of which was root material. Conclusions Our results demonstrate that plant spe- cies identity has a substantial impact on both litter decomposition and N cycling even within a single vegetation type and on an extremely local scale via both litter chemistry and specificity of the associated soil microbial community. Therefore, changes in botanical composition could alter decomposition and nutrient release altering ecosystem productivity and carbon sequestration potential. Keywords Biogeochemistry . Home-field advantage . Litter quality . Microbial community . Nitrogen mineralisation Introduction The release of nutrients from organic material via decomposition is critical in regulating net ecosys- tem productivity, particularly in nutrient-limited systems (Schlesinger 1997; Vitousek et al. 2002). This is especially the case with nitrogen (N) in ecosystems where external input of N is limited (Schlesinger 1997; Vitousek et al. 2002) and the bulk of the total N pool exists in organic forms. Plant Soil (2012) 350:365–378 DOI 10.1007/s11104-011-0920-x Responsible Editor: Dan Murphy. Y. Osanai : A. Flittner : J. K. Janes : M. J. Hovenden (*) School of Plant Science, University of Tasmania, Locked Bag 55, Hobart, Tasmania 7001, Australia e-mail: Mark.Hovenden@utas.edu.au P. Theobald : P. C. D. Newton Grasslands Research Centre, AgResearch, Palmerston North, New Zealand E. Pendall Dept. of Botany and Program in Ecology, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY, USA