Differential resource consumption in leaf litter mixtures by native and non-native amphipods

Aquatic Ecology volume 53, pages 151–162 (2019)Cite this article

Abstract

Leaf litter processing is an essential ecosystem function in freshwater systems, since much of the carbon and nutrients moving through freshwater food webs come from the surrounding terrestrial ecosystems. Thus, it is important to understand how the species performing this function differ, especially because many native species are being replaced by non-native species in aquatic ecosystems. We used a field experiment to examine leaf consumption rates of two common shredding macroinvertebrates (the native Gammarus fossarum and the non-native Gammarus roeselii). Leaves from three species, varying in resource quality, were added both in leaf monocultures and as a three-species mixture. Biomass-adjusted daily consumption rates were similar between the two amphipod species, and each consumed nitrogen-rich alder leaves faster than oak or beech leaves. However, because adult G. roeselii are approximately twice the size of G. fossarum, this led to systematic, though nonsignificant, differences in consumption rates at the per-capita or population level. Furthermore, we found nuanced effects of decomposer identity on leaf decomposition in mixtures. Only G. roeselii showed increased consumption of the preferred resource (alder) in the mixture, while G. fossarum consumed all leaves at the same proportional rates as in monocultures. This is an important distinction, as most measures of macroinvertebrate leaf shredding are made in the laboratory with only a single leaf resource available. Our results, based on a field experiment which could control the presence of dominant macroinvertebrates while still providing natural, biologically realistic context, suggest that even functionally similar species may subtly shift ecosystem processes.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Elvira Mächler, Sereina Gut, Simon Flückiger, Denis Lasic, and Marcel Preisig for help in the field and the laboratory. We thank Elvira Mächler, Moritz Lürig, and two anonymous reviewers for critical comments on the manuscript. Funding is from the Swiss National Science Foundation Grants No. PP00P3_150698 and PP00P3_179089 and the University of Zurich Research Priority Programme URPP Global Change and Biodiversity (to F.A.).

Data availability

Data are available from the Dryad Digital Repository at http://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.v22901d (Little and Altermatt 2019). The R code used for analyses and to make figures is available at http://github.com/chelseajlittle/CAGE2.

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  1. Department of Aquatic Ecology, Eawag: Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Überlandstrasse 133, 8600, Dübendorf, Switzerland

    Chelsea J. Little & Florian Altermatt

  2. Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Chelsea J. Little & Florian Altermatt

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  1. Chelsea J. Little
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Correspondence to Chelsea J. Little.

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Little, C.J., Altermatt, F. Differential resource consumption in leaf litter mixtures by native and non-native amphipods. Aquat Ecol 53, 151–162 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10452-019-09679-3

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Keywords

  • Biodiversity
  • Decomposition
  • Headwater streams
  • Ecosystem function
  • Meta-ecosystem
  • Preferential feeding