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Leaching and early mass loss of boreal leaves and wood in oligotrophic water

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Abstract

Following immersion in water, allochthonous litter undergoes aprocess of substantial leaching that is difficult to quantify yetimportant to exclude from analyses of the role ofmacroinvertebrates in subsequent breakdown. Laboratory experimentswhich measured the aqueous release of total phosphorus anddissolved organic carbon from undried leaves (deciduous andconiferous) and woody debris (twigs and bark) revealed that theperiod of leaching is a prolonged process developing over weeks.Immersion of litter from 6 species of riparian trees in 4oligotrophic Canadian Shield lakes demonstrated that undried leaveslost 6 to 18% of their mass after 2 wk, and woody debrisexperienced 0.2 to 27% mass loss after 7 wk. Studies concernedwith quantifying the role of macroinvertebrates in the breakdown ofallochthonous litter in lentic water should therefore disregardsuch mass losses.

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  1. Department of Biology, McGill University, 1205 Ave. Dr. Penfield, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, H3A 1B1

    Robert France, Heather Culbert, Christine Freeborough & Robert Peters

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  1. Robert France
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  2. Heather Culbert
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  3. Christine Freeborough
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France, R., Culbert, H., Freeborough, C. et al. Leaching and early mass loss of boreal leaves and wood in oligotrophic water. Hydrobiologia 345, 209–214 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1002953629795

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