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Publications (59)
The decomposition of plant litter plays a fundamental role in the cycling of carbon and nutrients and is driven
by complex interactions of biological and physical controls, yet little is known about its variability and controls
across spatial scales. Here we address the indirect effects of riparian canopy cover on litter decomposition
and decompose...
Leaf litter breakdown plays a crucial role in detrital-based ecosystems, and understanding the factors that influence this process is essential, particularly in data-poor semi-arid riparian zones. This study investigated the influence of land use (upstream and downstream of an urban area) on the decomposition of leaf material from common species in...
Decomposition of plant litter is a key ecological process in streams, whose contribution to the global carbon cycle is large relative to their extent on Earth. We examined the mechanisms underlying the temperature sensitivity (TS) of instream decomposition and forecast effects of climate warming on this process. Comparing data from 41 globally dist...
Keywords: carbon cycle | detritivores | global change | globally distributed study | litter quality | metabolic theory of ecology | microorganisms | plant litter decomposition | stream ecosystem functioning | temperature sensitivity ABSTRACT Decomposition of plant litter is a key ecological process in streams, whose contribution to the global carbo...
Litter diversity can enhance leaf breakdown through selective effects when driven by a particular species or specific leaf chemicalcharacteristics. We analyzed the influence of leaf mixtures on leaf breakdown and associated decomposers in a highland grass-land stream that receives low-diversity leaf inputs. We incubated leaves of Ocotea diospyrifol...
Leaf litter mass loss plays a crucial role in ecosystem processes, and understanding the factors that influence this process is essential, particularly in semi-arid riparian zones. This study investigated the impact of plant species ( Erythrina velutina , Anacardium occidentale , Tabebuia aurea , Croton sonderianus , and Hymenaea courbaril ) and en...
Riparian forests provide abundant plant litter – mostly in the form of dead leaves (hereafter litter) – for both forest soils and adjacent stream ecosystems, supporting terrestrial and aquatic detritus‐based food webs. Although the fate of litter is predominantly dependent on its chemical and physical traits, there is limited availability of data o...
Terrestrial leaf litter is an essential energy source in forest streams and in many tropical streams, including Cerrado, litter undergoes biological decomposition mainly by fungi. However, there is a limited understanding of the contribution of isolated fungal species to in-stream litter decomposition in the tropics. Here we set a full factorial mi...
Riparian forests play an important role in stream ecosystems, as they support biodiversity, reduce water erosion, and provide litter that fuels aquatic biota. However, they are affected by great array of anthropogenic threats (e.g., fire, logging, and organic pollution), which alter species composition and their physical structure. Although forest...
Freshwater environments are among the most threatened by human activities, consequently, their ecosystem structures and functions are targets of significant transformations. It makes monitoring an essential tool in the management of these environments. Ecological metrics have been proven to be effective in monitoring programs aimed at assessing fre...
Biodiversity loss is altering key ecosystem processes as primary production and decomposition, however, the after-life effects of plant diversity (species-mixing effects) on instream organic matter (litter) decomposition is still under debate. Available evidence of litter species-mixing effect (or the lack of) comes from studies using dominant plan...
Microplastics (MPs) have been recognized as as one of the most ubiquitous environmental pollutants globally. They have been found in all ecosystems studied to date, threatening biological diversity, ecosystem functioning and human health. The present study aimed to elucidate the environmental and anthropogenic drivers of MP dynamics in the whole ca...
Leaf litter decomposition is a key process in stream ecosystems, the rates of which can vary with changes in litter quality or its colonization by microorganisms. Decomposition in streams is increasingly used to compare ecosystem functioning globally, often requiring the distribution of litter across countries. It is important to understand whether...
Leaf litter fragmentation is one of the main determinants of the availability of food resources for aquatic biota, and this process is strongly influenced by the retention capacity of streams. Retention capacity depends on habitat heterogeneity, as well as on other factors such as leaf litter characteristics and microhabitat diversity. However, the...
Understanding ecological patterns and processes at the global scale is becoming increasingly important in view of the rapid pace of environmental change and consequent impacts on ecosystems. This chapter reviews current knowledge about how plant litter decomposition—a key stream ecosystem process—and its major biotic and abiotic drivers vary global...
Terrestrial litter that decomposes in streams is critical to carbon and nutrient fluxes and aquatic food web dynamics. Litter dynamics is influenced by biogeochemical, morphological, environmental and climatic factors, making it challenging to understand how these factors relate to each other and to litter decomposition across different spatial sca...
A key or keystone species is defined as a species with disproportionately large effects on the ecosystem relative to its abundance. In freshwater ecology it is often used with a bottom-up perspective, to refer to riparian plant species whose litter resources are of particular importance for invertebrate communities and ecosystem processes. This inc...
Litterfall has a large influence on carbon and nutrient cycling of ecosystems, particularly in light-limited forested streams, as most nutrients return in the form of litter. Although recent evidence points to the prevalence of seasonal litterfall in species-rich and evergreen tropical riparian forests, there is a limited understanding of how ripar...
The relationship between detritivore diversity and decomposition can provide information on how biogeochemical cycles are affected by ongoing rates of extinction, but such evidence has come mostly from local studies and microcosm experiments. We conducted a globally distributed experiment (38 streams across 23 countries in 6 continents) using stand...
Several studies have examined the transmission dynamics of the novel COVID-19 disease in different parts of the world. Some have reported relationships with various environmental variables, suggesting that spread of the disease is enhanced in colder and drier climates. However, evidence is still scarce and mostly limited to a few countries, particu...
Running waters contribute substantially to global carbon fluxes through decomposition of terrestrial plant litter by aquatic microorganisms and detritivores. Diversity of this litter may influence instream decomposition globally in ways that are not yet understood. We investigated latitudinal differences in decomposition of litter mixtures of low a...
The conversion of riparian vegetation into monocultures alters the input of allochthonous energy and the heterotrophy of streams. Here, we aimed to assess the implication of leaf litter inputs from plant species of agricultural importance on decomposition in Amazonian streams. We hypothesized that decomposition is low in litter with high concentrat...
Running waters contribute substantially to global carbon fluxes through decomposition of terrestrial plant litter by aquatic microorganisms and detritivores. Diversity of this litter may influence instream decomposition globally in ways that are not yet understood. We investigated latitudinal differences in decomposition of litter mixtures of low a...
The expansion of agriculture is particularly worrying in tropical regions of the world, where native forests are being replaced by crops at alarming rates, with severe consequences for biodiversity and ecosystems. However, there is little information about the potential effects of agriculture on the functioning of tropical streams, which is essenti...
Salmon fish farms utilize 20–30 t yr-1 salt (NaCl) to prevent and control fungal infections; increasing salinity has potentially adverse effects on freshwater biodiversity and ecosystem functions and services. We studied the effects of fish-farm effluents on benthic macroinvertebrate communities in a northern Patagonian stream (Chile), where the aq...
Extreme temperatures have increased in intensity, duration and frequency in the last century, with potential consequences on key ecological processes such as organic matter breakdown. Many stream ecosystems are fueled by the breakdown of terrestrial leaf litter, which is exposed to atmospheric conditions for certain periods of time before entering...
An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.
Streams draining forested landscapes are fuelled by terrestrial plant litter, which can be transported downstream or retained and broken down locally. However, fluxes of plant litter in streams can vary at multiple spatio‐temporal scales, affecting the availability of this key resource in heterotrophic stream food webs.
To explore this question we...
Biodiversity loss is occurring globally at unprecedented rates, altering the functioning of the Earth's ecosystems. Multiple processes are often key components of ecosystem functioning, but it is unclear how biodiversity loss affects ecosystem multifunctionality (i.e., the ability of ecosystems to maintain multiple processes simultaneously). This i...
Tropical forests are declining at unprecedented rates in favour of agriculture, and streams can be severely impacted due to effects of multiple stressors that have rarely been considered together in tropical studies. We studied the effects of multiple stressors associated with agricultural practices (pesticide toxicity, nutrient enrichment and habi...
Antarctic and Subantarctic lakes are unique ecosystems with relatively simple food webs, which are likely to be strongly affected by climate warming. While Antarctic freshwater invertebrates are adapted to extreme environmental conditions, little is known about the factors determining their current distribution and to what extent this is explained...
Globally, dams severely affect the hydrology of lotic ecosystems, impacting biotic assemblages and ecological processes. Although their consequences are not fully explored, especially in the tropics, hundreds of small dams have been constructed worldwide in the last decade for hydropower development and water supply. Here, we assessed the effects o...
Understanding how biodiversity loss influences plant litter decomposition—that is, the biologically mediated conversion of coarse to fine particulate organic matter—is crucial to predict changes in the functioning of many stream ecosystems, where detrital food webs are dominant. Rates of litter decomposition are influenced by detritivore diversity,...
Aquatic ecosystems worldwide have been substantially altered by human activities, which often induce changes in multiple factors that can interact to produce complex effects. Here, we evaluated the combined effects of dissolved nutrients (nitrogen [N] and phosphorus [P]; three levels: concentration found in oligotrophic streams in the Cerrado biome...
Litter fragment size and quality can have profound effects on ecosystem functioning and global biogeochemical cycling due to differential utilization by decomposers. Here we study the influence of these factors on decomposers from two guilds found in a tropical savannah stream: invertebrate shredders of the genus Phylloicus and microorganisms. Cont...
Plant litter represents a major basal resource in streams, where its decomposition is partly regulated by litter traits. Litter-trait variation may determine the latitudinal gradient in decomposition in streams, which is mainly microbial in the tropics and detritivore-mediated at high latitudes. However, this hypothesis remains untested, as we lack...
Riparian plant litter is a major energy source for forested streams across the world and its decomposition has repercussions on nutrient cycling, food webs and ecosystem functioning. However, we know little about plant litter dynamics in tropical streams, even if the tropics occupy 40% of the Earth's land surface. Here we investigated spatial and t...
We are facing major biodiversity loss and there is evidence that such loss can alter ecosystem functioning. However, the effects of plant diversity on decomposition – a key component of the global carbon cycle – are still unclear. A recent study suggested that a plant trait – their nitrogen (N)‐fixing capacity – could mediate effects of litter dive...
The replacement of native forests by exotic tree monocultures, such as those of Eucalyptus, decreases the quality of leaf litter inputs to streams and often reduces riparian cover, which can elevate water temperature. The combined effects of these stressors on the survival and performance of detritivores may be important, as detritivore species los...
Small forest streams and their riparian vegetation are closely linked ecosystems. Stream consumers obtain most of their energy from leaf litter provided by the terrestrial vegetation. Thus, understanding the relationship between riparian vegetation, aquatic communities and litter decomposition may help explaining the variability in aquatic communit...
Shredder invertebrates are key organisms in the decomposition of leaves in streams. These organisms transform coarse organic matter into fine organic matter, incorporate carbon and nutrients into animal biomass and promote the recycling of terrestrial carbon. Despite their importance in headwater streams, the life history of this shredder taxa and...
Abstract: Aims: Our objective was assess the effects of leaf chemical change during
breakdown on the associated invertebrates. Methods: We evaluate the chemical
composition of leaves (of two tree species; Sebastiania brasiliensis and Campomanesia
xanthocarpa) and the density of invertebrates during leaf breakdown (on four incubation
times; 3, 7, 14...
We hypothesized that (i) the importance of
shredders for leaf breakdown is more evident in terms
of their biomass than their abundance, due to the large
bodies and high-feeding efficiencies of some typical
shredders; (ii) non-shredder invertebrates select more
refractory leaves because these are a more stable
substrate for colonization or to obtain...
AIM: This study aimed to determine the effects of nitrate enrichment on leaf decomposition process and the kinetic parameters of decomposition model; METHODS: Samples of water from a first-order stream and senescent leaves of the native tree species Campomanesia xanthocarpa O. Berg (Myrtaceae) were collected in South of Brazil. The leaves were oven...
