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Does the loss of climate sensitive detritivore species alter leaf decomposition?

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Abstract

Climate change is predicted to increase average temperatures and the frequency of extreme weather events, and thus might alter the composition of freshwater communities through effects on climate-sensitive taxa, with uncertain outcomes for the ecosystem processes they regulate. Here we investigated how loses of more environmentally sensitive detritivores alter the key ecosystem process of leaf litter decomposition in a field experiment in two pristine streams with different local shredder assemblages in the Palatinate forest, south-western Germany. We compared bulk leaf decomposition rate and the leaf processing efficiency of shredders in enclosures containing three shredder diversity treatments, where species loss was simulated based on their climate sensitivity. Litter decomposition rates contrasted markedly between survey sites, with a 33% increase and 41% decrease in decomposition following species loss at the first and second site, respectively. Results for the first site suggest that the least sensitive taxa, which were also larger in biomass, contributed most to leaf mass loss, and these were able to compensate for losses of sensitive species, ultimately increasing bulk leaf processing. By contrast, at the second site sensitive species played a more important role in litter decomposition and their loss was not compensated when accounting for detritivore biomass. Our findings demonstrate the importance of the species trait composition of local species pools in regulating the potential effects of changes in assemblage composition caused by climate change.

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Acknowledgements

The study was funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) (Grant number: SCHA 1720/3-1). We thank all members of the working group Quantitative Landscape Ecology for help with the field work and Sandra Schneider is acknowledged for contributing to all practical work of the study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Environmental Science, University of Koblenz-Landau, Campus Landau, Fortstraße 7, 76829, Landau, Germany

    Bonny Wenisch, Diego G. Fernández, Eduard Szöcs & Ralf B. Schäfer

  2. Department of Aquatic Science and Assessment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden

    Brendan G. Mckie

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  1. Bonny Wenisch
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  2. Diego G. Fernández
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  3. Eduard Szöcs
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  4. Brendan G. Mckie
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Bonny Wenisch.

Appendix 1

Appendix 1

Dry mass -length relationship

The model fit of the non-linear body mass–length regression was high for: Odontocerum albicorne (D (deviance) = 0.87), Gammarus fossarum (D = 0.83), Halesus sp. (D = 0.81) and Sericostoma personatum (D = 0.72), whereas the model fit was lower for Potamophylax rotundipennis (D = 0.34) and (Apppendix 1). Most of our models had a similar goodness of fit as those reported in a meta-analysis (Benke et al. 1999). The low goodness of fit for some models was associated with a relatively low sample size and low gradient of length (Fig. 3).

Fig. 3
figure 3

Dry mass–length relationship of the individual taxa, with DM dry mass, BL body length and D (deviance) of a C. major, regression formula DM = 0.9035 × BL3.145, D = 0.55, n = 90; b G. fossarum, DM = 0.0023 × BL2.9033, D = 0.83, n = 366; c Halesus sp. DM = 1.551 × BL2.4913, D = 0.81, n = 199; d O. albicorne, DM = 2.611 × BL2.775, D = 0.87, n = 102; e P. rotundipennis, DM = 4.5485 × BL2.3359, D = 0.34, n = 37; f S. personatum, DM = 2.457 × BL2.3351, D = 0.72, n = 51

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Wenisch, B., Fernández, D.G., Szöcs, E. et al. Does the loss of climate sensitive detritivore species alter leaf decomposition?. Aquat Sci 79, 869–879 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00027-017-0538-z

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