Revisiting the Fates of Dead Leaves That Fall into Streams

2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 547-568 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane C. Marks
Keyword(s):  
Organic Matter ◽  
Food Web ◽  
Leaf Litter ◽  
Microbial Growth ◽  
Aquatic Invertebrates ◽  
Trophic Levels ◽  
Carbon And Nitrogen ◽  
Nitrogen Fluxes ◽  
Detrital Carbon ◽  
Constituent Elements

As terrestrial leaf litter decomposes in rivers, its constituent elements follow multiple pathways. Carbon leached as dissolved organic matter can be quickly taken up by microbes, then respired before it can be transferred to the macroscopic food web. Alternatively, this detrital carbon can be ingested and assimilated by aquatic invertebrates, so it is retained longer in the stream and transferred to higher trophic levels. Microbial growth on litter can affect invertebrates through three pathways, which are not mutually exclusive. First, microbes can facilitate invertebrate feeding, improving food quality by conditioning leaves and making them more palatable for invertebrates. Second, microbes can be prey for invertebrates. Third, microbes can compete with invertebrates for resources bound within litter and may produce compounds that retard carbon and nitrogen fluxes to invertebrates. As litter is broken down into smaller particles, there are many opportunities for its elements to reenter the stream food web. Here, I describe a conceptual framework for evaluating how traits of leaf litter will affect its fate in food webs and ecosystems that is useful for predicting how global change will alter carbon fluxes into and out of streams.

Pathways of organic matter in an estuarine mangrove trophic network assessed by carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes

2017 ◽  
Vol 98 (7) ◽  
pp. 1559-1569
Author(s):  
Yves Letourneur ◽  
Marine J. Briand ◽  
Gaël Guillou
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotopes ◽  
Organic Matter ◽  
Food Web ◽  
New Caledonia ◽  
Avicennia Marina ◽  
Trophic Levels ◽  
Nitrogen Stable Isotopes ◽  
Wet Season ◽  
Mangrove Species ◽  
Carbon And Nitrogen

Carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes were used to describe an estuarine mangrove food web in New Caledonia, SW Pacific. Isotopic values were measured for all components of the ecosystem, from various organic matter (OM) sources to predators. Primary producers showed δ13C values from −32.29‰ (Bruguiera gymnorhiza) to −24.67‰ (mouth particulate organic matter), whereas δ15N values ranged from 1.48‰ (Avicennia marina) to 10.17‰ (Eichomia crassipes). Two potential organic matter sources, i.e. the mangrove species and E. crassipes, appeared not to be directly used by consumers although were indirectly entering the food web through particulate and sedimentary organic matter pools (POM and SOM). Overall, invertebrates showed C-depleted and N-depleted values compared with fish, highlighting their lower trophic level. The highest trophic levels in this estuarine mangrove were represented by carangids (δ15N of 11.24‰ for Caranx sp. and 10.81‰ for Carangoides fulvoguttatus) and gerrids (δ15N of 10.42‰ for Gerres filamentosus). Two main pathways of organic matter were identified from sources of OM to end-members, i.e. from estuarine POM and SOM toward gerrids and from marine POM towards carangids. The food chain comprised three or four trophic levels, depending on the pathway of organic matter. The position of some consumer species within the reconstructed food web might imply that an important source of organic matter was probably missing, i.e. microphytobenthos. Despite an obvious connection, the role of river inputs as potential drivers of mangrove food web dynamics appeared important only during the wet season.

scholarly journals Closely Related Tree Species Differentially Influence the Transfer of Carbon and Nitrogen from Leaf Litter Up the Aquatic Food Web

Ecosystems ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 186-201 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zacchaeus G. Compson ◽  
Bruce A. Hungate ◽  
George W. Koch ◽  
Steve C. Hart ◽  
Jesse M. Maestas ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food Web ◽  
Leaf Litter ◽  
Tree Species ◽  
Aquatic Food Web ◽  
Carbon And Nitrogen ◽  
Aquatic Food

Modern methane and dissolved organic matter radiocarbon signatures suggest rapid transfer of organic carbon from a tropical forest to the underlying subterranean estuary ecosystem

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Brankovits ◽  
John Pohlman ◽  
Mark Garnett ◽  
Joshua Dean
Keyword(s):  
Organic Matter ◽  
Organic Carbon ◽  
Dissolved Organic Matter ◽  
Food Web ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Dissolved Inorganic Carbon ◽  
Trophic Levels ◽  
Carbon Turnover ◽  
Isotopic Analyses ◽  
Subterranean Estuaries

<p>Biogeochemical processing of dissolved organic matter, including methane, along sharp salinity gradients in subterranean estuaries greatly alters the composition of submarine groundwater discharge into the marine environment. Along the margins of coastal carbonate (karst) platforms, which account for ~25% of all coastlines, subterranean estuaries extend kilometers inland within porous bedrock, flooding extensive cave networks. This environment harbors a poorly understood, but globally dispersed, anchialine fauna (invertebrates with subterranean adaptations) and characteristic microbial communities. In Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, microbial processing of methane and dissolved organic carbon (DOC), originating from overlying tropical soils, is the critical link for shuttling organic matter to higher trophic levels of the food web within the coastal aquifer. To better understand carbon turnover during organic matter transformations in this habitat, we collected samples for stable and radiocarbon analyses targeting the biotic and abiotic components of the carbon cycle. In the freshwater, radiocarbon signatures of terrestrially originated DOC (pMC = 105.1; [DOC] = 517 µM; δ<sup>13</sup>C = ˗27.8 ‰) and methane (pMC = 101.6; [CH<sub>4</sub>] = 6460 nM; δ<sup>13</sup>C = ˗71.5 ‰) correspond with modern <sup>14</sup>C ages, suggesting these sources of energy within the habitat are comprised of modern carbon fixed recently by photosynthesizing primary producers at the land surface. By contrast, DOC in the deeper saline groundwater is significantly lower in concentration (21 µM), and substantially older (pMC = 47.3, equates to 6010 ± 95 <sup>14</sup>C yrs). Similarly, dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) in the freshwater is significantly younger (pMC = 86.5, equates to 1170 ± 15 <sup>14</sup>C yrs) than in the deeper saline water (pMC = 58.4, equates to 4320 ± 25 <sup>14</sup>C yrs). These findings demonstrate that important sources of nutrition for the food web are intimately linked to the overlying subaerial habitat, which suggests these ecosystems are highly vulnerable to nearby land use alterations. Furthermore, this study provides new insights into carbon turnover during the process of methane production/consumption, carbon exchange, and organic matter transformation before the emission of the dissolved constituents into coastal oceans from karst subterranean estuaries. Radiocarbon and stable isotopic analyses of the resident fauna will allow us to evaluate the ecological effects of the rapid top-down transfer mechanism for methane and DOC. Beyond better understanding the sources and fate of these carbon sources, our findings have the potential to support management and conservation efforts aimed at coastal groundwater ecosystems.</p>

scholarly journals Estimating the value of mangrove leaf litter in sesarmid crab diets: the importance of fractionation factors

2020 ◽  
Vol 96 (3) ◽  
pp. 501-520
Author(s):  
Richard A MacKenzie ◽  
Nicole Cormier ◽  
Amanda W Demopoulos
Keyword(s):  
Food Web ◽  
Leaf Litter ◽  
Isotope Analysis ◽  
R Package ◽  
Enrichment Factors ◽  
Mangrove Forests ◽  
Web Studies ◽  
Carbon And Nitrogen ◽  
Trophic Enrichment ◽  
Species Specific

Sesarmid crabs play an important role in organic matter and carbon cycling of mangrove forests. Visual observations and gut content studies have verified that sesarmid crabs are feeding on mangrove leaves, yet stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen (13C and 15N) have indicated that leaf litter is not assimilated as a food source. Sesarmid crabs tend to be much more enriched in 13C than leaf litter (0.9‰ – 11.6‰) and have C values that are often more like microphytobenthos (MPB). General 13C trophic enrichment factors (TEF; 0.1‰ – 0.5‰) suggest crabs feed more heavily on MPB. Field and laboratory-based evidence reveal that general 13C TEF for crabs feeding on mangrove leaves may be incorrect and much greater than 0.1‰ – 0.5‰. A food web study conducted annually over 2 yrs revealed a shift in the δ13C and δ15N of Parasesarma sp. crabs similar to mangrove leaves also sampled. This suggested Parasesarma sp. may be feeding more heavily on mangrove leaves than previously reported despite crabs being 4.4‰ – 11.6‰ more enriched in 13C than mangrove leaves. A laboratory feeding study confirmed that average 13C TEF between Parasesarma sp. and decayed Rhizophora sp. leaves was 3.3‰ (SE 0.5). The Stable Isotope Analysis in R package (SIAR) used with our TEF and the general 0.5‰ 13C TEF revealed that published TEFs may underestimate mangrove leaf contributions to sesarmid crab diets on average by 33.3% (SE 0.1) and overestimate MPB and epiphytic algal contributions by 31.3% (SE 0.1). Food web studies in mangroves and other ecosystems will continue to inaccurately identify important food resources or food web structures unless more accurate and species-specific isotope fractionation values are determined.

Invasive Japanese Barberry, Berberis thunbergii (Ranunculales: Berberidaceae) Is Associated With Simplified Branch-Dwelling and Leaf-Litter Arthropod Communities in a New York Forest

2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (5) ◽  
pp. 1071-1078 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert E Clark ◽  
Chad L Seewagen
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Food Web ◽  
Food Webs ◽  
Leaf Litter ◽  
Community Composition ◽  
Trophic Levels ◽  
Arthropod Community ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Japanese Barberry ◽  
Sampling Protocols

Abstract Arthropod food webs can be indirectly impacted by woody plant invasions, with cascading consequences for higher trophic levels. There are multiple bottom-up pathways by which invasive plants can alter food webs: above-ground interactions based on plant-herbivore associations and below-ground at the interface of leaf-litter and soil food webs. We compared arthropod community composition in these two food web dimensions in a New York forest that has been heavily invaded by nonnative Japanese barberry. Using two sampling protocols, we compared arthropod community composition on Japanese barberry shrubs to multiple species of native host shrubs and then compared leaf-litter arthropod assemblages between forest patches with exceptionally high Japanese barberry densities and those with relatively little to no Japanese barberry present. Fitting with trends in other woody shrub invasions, arthropod species richness was significantly lower in the leaf litter around Japanese barberry and on Japanese barberry plants themselves. Although overall arthropod abundance was also significantly lower on and in the leaf litter around Japanese barberry than on and around native shrubs, total biomass did not differ due to the taxa associated with Japanese barberry tending to be larger-bodied. We observed a dramatic reduction in predatory arthropods in response to both bottom-up pathways, particularly among ants and spiders. Our results show that Japanese barberry-invaded habitats may be experiencing trophic downgrading as result of lower numbers of generalist predators like spiders and ants, which may have rippling effects up the food web to insectivorous animals and their predators.

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