Riparian plant litter is a major energy source for forested streams across the world and its decomposition has repercussions on nutrient cycling, food webs and ecosystem functioning. However, we know little about plant litter dynamics in tropical streams, even though the tropics occupy 40% of the Earth’s land surface. Here we investigated spatial and temporal (along a year cycle) patterns of litter inputs and storage in multiple streams of three tropical biomes in Brazil (Atlantic forest, Amazon forest and Cerrado savanna), predicting major differences among biomes in relation to temperature and precipitation regimes. Precipitation explained most of litter inputs and storage, which were generally higher in more humid biomes (litterfall: 384, 422 and 308 g m−2 y−1, storage: 55, 113 and 38 g m−2, on average in Atlantic forest, Amazon and Cerrado, respectively). Temporal dynamics varied across biomes in relation to precipitation and temperature, with uniform litter inputs but seasonal storage in Atlantic forest streams, seasonal inputs in Amazon and Cerrado streams, and aseasonal storage in Amazon streams. Our findings suggest that litter dynamics vary greatly within the tropics, but point to the major role of precipitation, which contrasts with the main influence of temperature in temperate areas.

[1] This study analyzed how seasonal and interannual variations in climate alter litter dynamics, including production, decomposition, and accumulation. Monthly measurements of leaf, stem, and reproductive (flower plus fruit) litter and the forest floor litter mass were combined with a mass balance model to determine rates of litter decomposition for a semideciduous tropical forest located in the rain forest-savanna ecotone of the southern Amazon Basin for [2001][2002][2003][2004][2005][2006][2007]. Annual rates of litter production varied between 8 and 10.5 Mg ha À1 a À1 , and leaf litter production accounted for the majority ($70%) of the total litter production. Leaf litter production peaked at the end of the May-August dry season while stem litter production peaked during the wet season and reproductive litter production peaked during the dry-wet season transition. Forest floor litter mass ranged between 5 and 8 Mg ha À1 over the study period and generally declined as litter inputs declined. Litter decomposition rates were remarkably stable from year-toyear and varied between 10.8 and 12.4 Mg ha À1 a À1 . On average, rates of litter decomposition were highest during the dry-wet season transition. Overall, our results suggest that rainfall variability directly altered litter production dynamics and indirectly altered forest floor litter mass and decomposition kinetics through its effect on litter production. Future changes in seasonal and/or interannual rainfall patterns, whether in response to El Niño or to anthropogenic climate change, will likely have important consequences for the litter dynamics of Amazonian semideciduous forest.

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Streams draining forested landscapes are fuelled by terrestrial plant litter, which can be transported downstream or retained and broken down locally. However, fluxes of plant litter in streams can vary at multiple spatio‐temporal scales, affecting the availability of this key resource in heterotrophic stream food webs. To explore this question we quantified several processes related to litter dynamics (i.e. litter inputs, storage, losses by transport and losses by breakdown) by sampling litter at multiple sites in three streams of the Brazilian Cerrado biome (which has a tropical wet–dry climate) for 2 years. We assessed the relative contribution of different spatial (among and within streams) and temporal scales (annual, seasonal and monthly) to total variability of these processes (hereafter fluxes). Spatial and temporal variability of fluxes were both high, but spatial variation was 1.67‐fold greater than temporal variation (61 versus 37%, respectively), especially at the within‐stream scale (50% overall); an exception was litterfall, which varied less spatially than temporally (24 versus 76%). Temporal variation of litter storage (and hence availability to consumers) was mostly seasonal and due to differences in net transport. Inputs and transport were higher in the wet than the dry season (wet versus dry season, 1.45 versus 0.92 and 1.43 versus 0.06 g litter m−2 day−1), while breakdown was similar between both seasons (0.88 versus 0.94 g litter m−2 day−1). Storage (i.e. accumulation) rate was positive and negative in the dry and wet season, respectively, indicating that litter was stored in the dry season and exported in the wet season. The transitional dry–wet season showed the highest inputs, breakdown and storage (3.21, 1.63 g litter m−2 day−1 and 145 g litter m−2), while the wet–dry season showed lower inputs (as in the dry season), higher transport (as in the wet season) and lower breakdown and storage than the other seasons (0.93, 0.65, 0.31 g litter m−2 day−1 and 24 g litter m−2). Our results underscore the role of variation in biophysical drivers of litter fluxes within streams (e.g. pool–riffle configuration, substrate features, biological communities), and suggest that high within‐stream replication is necessary to study litter fluxes at larger scales and over time. The seasonal patterns suggested potential changes in litter dynamics under future climate scenarios in the tropics, including increased storage due to reduced transport in a drier climate.

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