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Pulsed vs. chronic salinization effects on microbial-mediated leaf litter decomposition in fresh waters

  • EFFECTS OF CHANGES IN SALINITY
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Abstract

Freshwater salinization is a growing worldwide threat affecting the structure and functioning of aquatic systems. Increased salinity frequently occurs as result of human activities that determine chronic or, less commonly studied, pulsed contamination of streams and rivers. Here we compared the effects of both patterns of salt addition (i.e. continuous vs. 2 consecutive days/week exposure), within the same ionic concentrations (1, 4 or 6 g l−1 NaCl), on microbial-mediated litter decomposition and associated microbial endpoints. Mass loss of oak leaf litter was consistently depressed by salinization with stronger effects at the highest concentrations, despite the pattern of salt addition. At higher (≥ 4 g l−1) salt concentrations, chronic salt exposure was more deleterious than pulsed inputs to microbial activity, reproductive outputs and fungal richness, despite no effects on fungal biomass. Overall, results suggest that the effective salt concentration to alter fungal activity should be greater in pulsed (vs. chronic) salinization, as intervals between salt pulses seem to facilitate a total or partial recovery of microbial functions. We suggest that, along with the concentration, attention should be devoted to the dynamics of salt contamination when analyzing the consequences of salinization in streams.

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Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge Prof. Felix Bärlocher for the English revision and helpful comments on the manuscript. This study was supported by a) Project UIDP/04004/2020 co-funded by FCT/MEC through national funds and by FEDER, within the PT2020 Partnership Agreement, and COMPETE 2020; and b) Project ReNATURE — Valorization of the Natural Endogenous Resources of the Centro Region (Centro 2020, Centro-01-0145-FEDER-000007), which also supported AM (fellowship reference ReNATURE – BPD11_2).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Functional Ecology, Department of Life Sciences, University of Coimbra, Calçada Martim de Freitas, 3000-456, Coimbra, Portugal

    Cristina Canhoto, Ricardo Oliveira, Aingeru Martínez & Ana Lúcia Gonçalves

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  1. Cristina Canhoto
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  2. Ricardo Oliveira
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  3. Aingeru Martínez
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  4. Ana Lúcia Gonçalves
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Contributions

CC and ALG contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by RO, ALG and AM. The first draft of the manuscript was written by CC and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Cristina Canhoto.

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The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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Guest editors: Erik Jeppesen, Miguel Cañedo-Argüelles, Sally Entrekin, Judit Padisák & S.S.S. Sarma / Effects of induced changes in salinity on inland and coastal water ecosystems.

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Canhoto, C., Oliveira, R., Martínez, A. et al. Pulsed vs. chronic salinization effects on microbial-mediated leaf litter decomposition in fresh waters. Hydrobiologia 850, 4547–4556 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-022-04991-w

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