Leaf litter decomposition of native and introduced tree species of contrasting quality in headwater streams: How does the regional setting matter?
Terrestrial plant litter is important in sustaining stream food webs in forested headwaters. Leaf litter quality often decreases when native species are replaced by introduced species, and a lower quality of leaf litter inputs may alter litter decomposition at sites afforested with non-native spec...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | info:eu-repo/semantics/article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2024
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10835/14968 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2013.04.004 |
| _version_ | 1789406576065380352 |
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| author | Casas Jiménez, José Jesús Larrañaga, Aitor Menéndez, Margarita Pozo, Jesús Basaguren, Ana Aingeru, Martínez Pérez, Javier González, Jose M. Mollá, Salvador Casado, Carmen Descals, Enrique Roblas, Neftalí López-González, Juan A. Valenzuela Manjón-Cabeza, Juan Luis |
| author_facet | Casas Jiménez, José Jesús Larrañaga, Aitor Menéndez, Margarita Pozo, Jesús Basaguren, Ana Aingeru, Martínez Pérez, Javier González, Jose M. Mollá, Salvador Casado, Carmen Descals, Enrique Roblas, Neftalí López-González, Juan A. Valenzuela Manjón-Cabeza, Juan Luis |
| author_sort | Casas Jiménez, José Jesús |
| collection | DSpace |
| description | Terrestrial plant litter is important in sustaining stream food webs in forested headwaters. Leaf litter quality
often decreases when native species are replaced by introduced species, and a lower quality of leaf litter
inputs may alter litter decomposition at sites afforested with non-native species. However, since detritivore
composition and resource use plasticity may depend on the prevalent litter inputs, the extent of the alteration
in decomposition can vary between streams. We tested 2 hypotheses using 2 native and 3 introduced
species of tree differing in quality in 4 Iberian regions with contrasting vegetational traits: 1) decomposition
rates of all plant species would be higher in regions where streams normally receive litter inputs of lower
rather than higher quality; 2) a higher resource-use plasticity of detritivores in regions vegetated with plants
of lower litter quality will cause a greater evenness in decomposition rates among plant species compared to
regions where streams normally receive higher-quality plant litter inputs. Results showed a highly consistent
interspecific ranking of decomposition rates across regions driven by litter quality, and a significant regional
effect. Hypothesis 1 was supported: decomposition rates of the five litter types were generally higher in
streams from regions vegetated with species producing leaf litter of low quality, possibly due to the profusion
of caddisfly shredders in their communities. Hypothesis 2 was not supported: the relative differences in decomposition
rates among leaf litter species remained essentially unaltered across regions. Our results suggest
that, even in regions where detritivores can be comparatively efficient using resources of low quality, caution
is needed particularly when afforestation programs introduce plant species of lower litter quality than the
native species. |
| format | info:eu-repo/semantics/article |
| id | oai:repositorio.ual.es:10835-14968 |
| institution | Universidad de Cuenca |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oai:repositorio.ual.es:10835-149682024-01-08T12:56:06Z Leaf litter decomposition of native and introduced tree species of contrasting quality in headwater streams: How does the regional setting matter? Casas Jiménez, José Jesús Larrañaga, Aitor Menéndez, Margarita Pozo, Jesús Basaguren, Ana Aingeru, Martínez Pérez, Javier González, Jose M. Mollá, Salvador Casado, Carmen Descals, Enrique Roblas, Neftalí López-González, Juan A. Valenzuela Manjón-Cabeza, Juan Luis Forest plantations Resource-use plasticity Shredders Trichoptera Terrestrial plant litter is important in sustaining stream food webs in forested headwaters. Leaf litter quality often decreases when native species are replaced by introduced species, and a lower quality of leaf litter inputs may alter litter decomposition at sites afforested with non-native species. However, since detritivore composition and resource use plasticity may depend on the prevalent litter inputs, the extent of the alteration in decomposition can vary between streams. We tested 2 hypotheses using 2 native and 3 introduced species of tree differing in quality in 4 Iberian regions with contrasting vegetational traits: 1) decomposition rates of all plant species would be higher in regions where streams normally receive litter inputs of lower rather than higher quality; 2) a higher resource-use plasticity of detritivores in regions vegetated with plants of lower litter quality will cause a greater evenness in decomposition rates among plant species compared to regions where streams normally receive higher-quality plant litter inputs. Results showed a highly consistent interspecific ranking of decomposition rates across regions driven by litter quality, and a significant regional effect. Hypothesis 1 was supported: decomposition rates of the five litter types were generally higher in streams from regions vegetated with species producing leaf litter of low quality, possibly due to the profusion of caddisfly shredders in their communities. Hypothesis 2 was not supported: the relative differences in decomposition rates among leaf litter species remained essentially unaltered across regions. Our results suggest that, even in regions where detritivores can be comparatively efficient using resources of low quality, caution is needed particularly when afforestation programs introduce plant species of lower litter quality than the native species. 2024-01-08T12:56:06Z 2024-01-08T12:56:06Z 2013-05-04 info:eu-repo/semantics/article 0048-9697 http://hdl.handle.net/10835/14968 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2013.04.004 en info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
| spellingShingle | Forest plantations Resource-use plasticity Shredders Trichoptera Casas Jiménez, José Jesús Larrañaga, Aitor Menéndez, Margarita Pozo, Jesús Basaguren, Ana Aingeru, Martínez Pérez, Javier González, Jose M. Mollá, Salvador Casado, Carmen Descals, Enrique Roblas, Neftalí López-González, Juan A. Valenzuela Manjón-Cabeza, Juan Luis Leaf litter decomposition of native and introduced tree species of contrasting quality in headwater streams: How does the regional setting matter? |
| title | Leaf litter decomposition of native and introduced tree species of contrasting quality in headwater streams: How does the regional setting matter? |
| title_full | Leaf litter decomposition of native and introduced tree species of contrasting quality in headwater streams: How does the regional setting matter? |
| title_fullStr | Leaf litter decomposition of native and introduced tree species of contrasting quality in headwater streams: How does the regional setting matter? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Leaf litter decomposition of native and introduced tree species of contrasting quality in headwater streams: How does the regional setting matter? |
| title_short | Leaf litter decomposition of native and introduced tree species of contrasting quality in headwater streams: How does the regional setting matter? |
| title_sort | leaf litter decomposition of native and introduced tree species of contrasting quality in headwater streams: how does the regional setting matter? |
| topic | Forest plantations Resource-use plasticity Shredders Trichoptera |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/10835/14968 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2013.04.004 |
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