Hydrobiologia

, Volume 792, Issue 1, pp 195–207 | Cite as

Factors controlling leaf litter breakdown in Amazonian streams

  • José F. GonçalvesJr.
  • Sheyla R. M. Couceiro
  • Renan S. Rezende
  • Renato T. Martins
  • Bianca M. P. Ottoni-Boldrini
  • Claudimir M. Campos
  • Jeferson O. Silva
  • Neusa Hamada
Primary Research Paper
First Online:
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:

Abstract

Our objective was to assess the relative importance of leaf litter quality, and the microbial and aquatic invertebrate communities involved in leaf litter breakdown in Amazonian streams. We test the hypothesis that leaf litter quality is the driving force of leaf breakdown rates, rather than the microbial or invertebrate community, independent of stream characteristics. We incubated 3 g of Eucalyptus camaldulensis (EC), Baccharis platypoda, Symphonia globulifera, Mabea speciosa (MS), and Eperua duckeana (ED) leaves in five streams for 75, 56, 46, 26, 14, or 7 days. In all of the streams, leaf litter breakdown was higher for EC and lower in ED. This result may be related to different chemical characteristics among the five studied species. We observed higher frequency of shredders in MS and stream 4, and scrapers in streams 1 and 2. The concentration of ergosterol was higher in MS and lower in EC when adenosine triphosphate differed significantly among streams. Our data indicated that leaf litter quality (chemical and structural components) is a main factor affecting leaf breakdown in Amazonian streams.

Keywords

Chemical composition Decomposition Riparian vegetation Microbial biomass Invertebrates 
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Notes

Acknowledgements

JFG and NH received research fellowships (procs. 307479/2011-0, 302957/2014-6, and 306328/2010-0 from the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq). RSR received a fellowship from CNPq (proc. 151375/2014-3). RTM received a fellowship from the Programa de Apoio à Fixação de Doutores no Amazonas—FIXAM/AM (FAPEAM). RSR Program in Ecology and Conservation of the UFERSA. We are grateful to FAPEAM and CNPq for financing this study through their support of the DCR project “Effects of the input of anthropogenic sediments on the decomposition of leaves in central Amazonian streams” and the CT-Amazonia project “Anthropogenic sediments in Amazonian streams: impacts on aquatic macroinvertebrates and ecological functioning” (process 575875 2008-9). The CT-Amazônia/CNPq (Proc. 575875/2008-9), Pronex/CNPq/Fapeam—Aquatic insects, CT-Hidro/Climatic Changes/Water Resources/CNPq (Proc. 403949/2013-0), INCT ADAPTA (CNPq/FAPEAM), PROCAD/CAPES 21/2009, and National Program for Support and Development of Botany (Nº: AUX-PE-PNADB 1098/2010) projects supported the invertebrate sampling and laboratory analysis experiments.

Supplementary material

10750_2016_3056_MOESM1_ESM.pdf (2.9 mb)
Fig. S1 Mean values and standard errors of the remaining mass (A; in %/AFDM), shredder frequency (B; in %), scraper frequency (C; in %), density of invertebrates (D; individuals g−1 AFDM), leaf litter, species richness (E; taxa number), biomass of fungal hyphomycetes (F; μg ergosterol g−1 AFDM leaf litter) and total microbial biomass (G; mmoles ATP g−1AFDM leaf litter) over time for the leaf litter of Eucalyptus camaldulensis, Eperua duckeana, Symphonia globulifera, Baccharis platypoda and Mabea speciosa in five Amazon streams. t = time (days), vertical bars = standard error (PDF 2949 kb)
10750_2016_3056_MOESM2_ESM.docx (15 kb)
Table S1 Spearman’s rs correlation between leaf litter breakdown rates and leaf chemical compounds (lignin, cellulose, total polyphenols and tannins) and decomposer communities (aquatic invertebrates and the microbial community) (DOCX 14 kb)

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Copyright information

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016

Authors and Affiliations

  • José F. GonçalvesJr.
    • 1
  • Sheyla R. M. Couceiro
    • 2
  • Renan S. Rezende
    • 3
    • 4
  • Renato T. Martins
    • 3
  • Bianca M. P. Ottoni-Boldrini
    • 5
  • Claudimir M. Campos
    • 3
  • Jeferson O. Silva
    • 3
  • Neusa Hamada
    • 3
  1. 1.Laboratório de Limnologia, Departamento de Ecologia, IBUniversidade de BrasíliaBrasíliaBrazil
  2. 2.Laboratório de Ecologia e Taxonomia de Invertebrados Aquáticos, Instituto de Ciências e Tecnologia das ÁguasUniversidade Federal do Oeste do ParáSantarémBrazil
  3. 3.Programa de Pós-Graduação em Entomologia, Coordenação de BiodiversidadeInstituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia - INPAManausBrazil
  4. 4.Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia e ConservaçãoUniversidade Federal Rural do Semi-Árido-UFERSAMossoróBrazil
  5. 5.Colégio de Aplicação, Centro de EducaçãoUniversidade Federal de RoraimaBoa VistaBrazil

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