RT info:eu-repo/semantics/article
T1 Decomposition and biological colonization of native and exotic leaf litter in a stream
A1 Medina Villar, Silvia
A1 Alonso Fernández, Álvaro
A1 Vázquez De Aldana , Beatriz R.
A1 Pérez Corona, María Esther
A1 Castro Díez, María del Pilar
K1 Medio Ambiente
K1 Environmental science
AB Riparian invasion by exotic trees may lead to changes in the quality of leaf-litter inputs to freshwater ecosystems. Leaflitterinputs are especially important in headwater streams, where aquatic food webs largely depend on the organic matterprovided by the terrestrial vegetation. In a headwater stream of Central Spain, North of Guadalajara Province (Tagus basin)we compared the decomposition and biological colonization of leaf litter among two exotic (Ailanthus altissima Mill. Swingleand Robinia pseudoacacia L.) and two native trees (Fraxinus angustifolia Vahl. and Populus alba L.) co-existing in riparianzones.We hypothesized a lower biological colonization of exotic leaves due to organisms have not co-evolved with the exotictrees according to the Novel Weapons Hypothesis (NWH) and, consequently, lower decomposition rates of exotic leaves. Totest our hypothesis, litter bags with different mesh sizes (coarse (C) and fine (F)), were used to distinguish between the totaland microbial decomposition. The litter bags were placed in the stream and recovered after 2, 20, 39, 62 and 82 days ofincubation. After each collection, we assessed the amount of remaining litter, analysed the nitrogen (N) and phosphorous(P) in the litter, identified the macroinvertebrates and quantified the fungal biomass. Consistent with our hypothesis, we foundgreater fungal biomass buildup on native leaves than on exotic leaves. However, decomposition rates (k) were species-specific,being the ranking in C-bags (A. altissima = F. angustifolia > P. alba > R. pseudoacacia) slightly different than in F-bags (A.altissima > F. angustifolia > P. alba > R. pseudoacacia).
SN 0213-8409
YR 2015
FD 2015
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10017/35685
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10017/35685
LA eng
NO Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad
DS MINDS@UW
RD 29-abr-2024