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Effects of dams and reservoirs on organic matter decomposition in the hyporheic zone in forest mountain streams

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Abstract

Decomposition of allochthonous organic matter is an essential process in headwater streams. Damming of streams alters decomposition rates in the benthic zone downstream, but little is known about the effects on hyporheic decomposition. We examined the effects of dams on hyporheic and benthic organic matter decomposition, using the cotton-strip assay over five seasons, in two forest mountain streams in western Japan. The decomposition rates in the hyporheic zone were lower downstream of the dams than at the unregulated reach in spring, rainy season and fall, but they did not differ in winter and summer. Hyporheic decomposition rates were comparable to the benthic rates in one river and were lower in the other river. Decomposition rates did not differ between coarse- and fine-mesh bags in many seasons at all sites, and the densities of macroinvertebrates were low, suggesting that the contribution of macroinvertebrate to decomposition in the hyporheic zone was small. These results showed that the hyporheic zone is an important zone for decomposition and that presence of dams altered the hyporheic decomposition in some seasons. Thus, it is crucial to examine both the benthic and hyporheic zones when addressing the effects of dams and reservoirs on stream ecosystem processes.

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Data availability

The datasets obtained during the present study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Code availability

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by funding from the Water Resources Environment Center (WEC) in Japan under Grant Agreement No 2015-02 and JSPS KAKENHI 19K12298. We are grateful to Tomoya Kubo and Mizuki Koga for their help with field data collection, and Dr. Noboru Fujimoto for support in tensile strength measurement. We thank Mr. Gyo Yoshinari for his contribution in identifying Hydrachnella, Dr. Nao Yamamoto for identification of Chironomidae, and Dr. Taira Akikazu for identification of other common aquatic insects. We also thank the three anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments, which helped us to much improve the manuscript.

Funding

This work was supported by funding from the Water Resources Environment Center (WEC) in Japan under Grant Agreement No 2015-02 and by JSPS KAKENHI Grant number 19K12298.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Agriculture, Kyusyu University, 394 Tsubakuro, Sasaguri, Fukuoka, 811-2415, Japan

    Tamao Kasahara & Yanda Li

  2. Faculty of Advance Science and Technology, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto, Japan

    Aki Tanaka

  3. Kyousei Science Center for Life and Nature, Nara Woman’s University, Nara, Japan

    Aki Tanaka

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  1. Tamao Kasahara
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  2. Yanda Li
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  3. Aki Tanaka
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by TK and YL. Analysis of hyporheic invertebrates were carried out by AT. The first draft of the manuscript was written by TK and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Tamao Kasahara.

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Kasahara, T., Li, Y. & Tanaka, A. Effects of dams and reservoirs on organic matter decomposition in the hyporheic zone in forest mountain streams. Hydrobiologia 849, 2949–2965 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-022-04905-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-022-04905-w

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