PONE-D-19-21163

The role of resource transfer in positive, non-additive litter decomposition

PLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Koide,

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Kind regards,

Shuijin Hu, PhD

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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Additional Editor Comments (if provided):

Both reviewers have some good comments and suggestions. Please carefully address them.

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Reviewers' comments:

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Comments to the Author

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Reviewer #1: Partly

Reviewer #2: Yes

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2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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Reviewer #1: Major comments:

The manuscript in consideration aims to explore the mechanisms to explain the positive effect of clover litter on oat decomposition. The authors conducted several independent but complementary experiments to address the mechanisms, which seem methodologically sound. It is very interesting and the manuscript is clear. However, there are several concerns need to be solved before consider publication.

1. I suggest the authors to give clear hypotheses they would like to test in the Introduction;

2. The major concern I have is that all the experiments can only explain the effect of water, N, C, other mineral nutrients or various combinations of these on oat decomposition, rather than the positive effect of clover litter on oat decomposition, which the authors want to address;

3. How the authors exclude the role of microbes from clover litter in stimulating oat straw decomposition.

Specific Comments:

• Line 46, please define C, where it first appeared in the Text

• Line 85, more references should be provided

• Line 291, “addition” typo

• Line 459-471, no studies were cited

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Reviewer #2: Please see the attached document to view my editing suggestions. The manuscript is well-written and covers an important topic. The authors did a fine job in testing multiple treatments to better understand the effects of clover residues on oat straw decomposition. My primary editing suggesting is that the authors spend more time discussing the practical implications of their findings. Clover and oat are common cover crops and often used in mixtures. Findings from this study have practical implications for N management on subsequent crops.

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

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Attachments

Attachment

Submitted filename: resource transfer PLOSONE v7 (1).docx

The role of resource transfer in positive, non-additive litter decomposition

PONE-D-19-21163R1

Dear Dr. Koide,

We are pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it complies with all outstanding technical requirements.

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With kind regards,

Shuijin Hu, PhD

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Dear Roger,

Congratulations! Your paper is very interesting!

Shuijin

Reviewers' comments: