TY - JOUR
T1 - Biotic and abiotic variables influencing plant litter breakdown in streams
T2 - A global study
AU - Boyero, Luz
AU - Pearson, Richard G.
AU - Hui, Cang
AU - Gessner, Mark O.
AU - Pérez, Javier
AU - Alexandrou, Markos A.
AU - Graça, Manuel A.S.
AU - Cardinale, Bradley J.
AU - Albariño, Ricardo J.
AU - Arunachalam, Muthukumarasamy
AU - Barmuta, Leon A.
AU - Boulton, Andrew J.
AU - Bruder, Andreas
AU - Callisto, Marcos
AU - Chauvet, Eric
AU - Death, Russell G.
AU - Dudgeon, David
AU - Encalada, Andrea C.
AU - Ferreira, Verónica
AU - Figueroa, Ricardo
AU - Flecker, Alexander S.
AU - Gonçalves, José F.
AU - Helson, Julie
AU - Iwata, Tomoya
AU - Jinggut, Tajang
AU - Mathooko, Jude
AU - Mathuriau, Catherine
AU - M’Erimba, Charles
AU - Moretti, Marcelo S.
AU - Pringle, Catherine M.
AU - Ramírez, Alonso
AU - Ratnarajah, Lavenia
AU - Rincon, José
AU - Yule, Catherine M.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.
PY - 2016/4/27
Y1 - 2016/4/27
N2 - Plant litter breakdown is a key ecological process in terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems. Streams and rivers, in particular, contribute substantially to global carbon fluxes. However, there is little information available on the relative roles of different drivers of plant litter breakdown in fresh waters, particularly at large scales. We present a global-scale study of litter breakdown in streams to compare the roles of biotic, climatic and other environmental factors on breakdown rates. We conducted an experiment in 24 streams encompassing latitudes from 47.8°N to 42.8° S, using litter mixtures of local species differing in quality and phylogenetic diversity (PD), and alder (Alnus glutinosa) to control for variation in litter traits. Our models revealed that breakdown of alder was driven by climate, with some influence of pH, whereas variation in breakdown of litter mixtures was explained mainly by litter quality and PD. Effects of litter quality and PD and stream pH were more positive at higher temperatures, indicating that different mechanisms may operate at different latitudes. These results reflect global variability caused by multiple factors, but unexplained variance points to the need for expanded global-scale comparisons.
AB - Plant litter breakdown is a key ecological process in terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems. Streams and rivers, in particular, contribute substantially to global carbon fluxes. However, there is little information available on the relative roles of different drivers of plant litter breakdown in fresh waters, particularly at large scales. We present a global-scale study of litter breakdown in streams to compare the roles of biotic, climatic and other environmental factors on breakdown rates. We conducted an experiment in 24 streams encompassing latitudes from 47.8°N to 42.8° S, using litter mixtures of local species differing in quality and phylogenetic diversity (PD), and alder (Alnus glutinosa) to control for variation in litter traits. Our models revealed that breakdown of alder was driven by climate, with some influence of pH, whereas variation in breakdown of litter mixtures was explained mainly by litter quality and PD. Effects of litter quality and PD and stream pH were more positive at higher temperatures, indicating that different mechanisms may operate at different latitudes. These results reflect global variability caused by multiple factors, but unexplained variance points to the need for expanded global-scale comparisons.
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U2 - 10.1098/rspb.2015.2664
DO - 10.1098/rspb.2015.2664
M3 - Article
C2 - 27122551
AN - SCOPUS:84964794816
SN - 0962-8452
VL - 283
JO - Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
JF - Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
IS - 1829
M1 - 20152664
ER -