Assessing impact of eucalyptus plantations on benthic macroinvertebrate communities by a litter exclusion experiment

Larrañaga, Aitor; Larrañaga, Santiago; Basaguren, Ana; Elosegi, Arturo; Pozo, Jesús

doi:10.1051/limn/2006002

Cited by 20 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 50 publications

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“…Our results support the idea that decomposition rate is a good indicator of food quality, especially for shredders. Although one field experiment carried out in Spain has suggested no differences in total density of invertebrates in leaf packs in deciduous forested streams in comparison with eucalyptus ones (Larrañaga et al 2006), other studies demonstrated similar differences as in this study (Abelho and Graça 1996;Ló-pez et al 2001;García and Pardo 2012).…”

Section: Invertebrate Dynamicssupporting

confidence: 71%

Leaf quality influences invertebrate colonization and drift in a temperate rainforest stream

García

Richardson

Pardo

2012

Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci.

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Changes in riparian forest composition and diversity, such as plantations of exotic species, may alter resource quality, detritivore assemblages, and litter breakdown rates in streams. We hypothesized that different litter resources may influence colonization and drift of invertebrates inhabiting small, temperate rainforest streams in southwestern British Columbia, Canada. Leaves of different quality and origin were incubated in stream-side channels to test this hypothesis. The sequence of leaf decomposition rates was as follows: alder > alder + cedar > cedar ≥ eucalyptus. Cedar litter decayed faster when mixed with alder than when alone. Invertebrates colonizing leaf bags were predominantly collector-gatherers and shredders, particularly on alder leaves. Drift density varied over the incubation period and seemed to be controlled by leaf quality, since there were more individuals drifting from channels with alder leaves than from channels with cedar or eucalyptus. However, we observed different species-specific invertebrate responses controlled by leaf traits, particularly by numerically dominant chironomid species. Indeed, invertebrate drift from channels incubated with alder bags was mostly due to pupation and emergence of orthoclad midges, whereas this was not observed in the other channels. This differential response in colonization and drift has the potential to modify the transfer rates of organic matter to higher trophic levels and thus ecosystem functioning.Résumé : Des changements dans la composition et la diversité des forêts riveraines, comme la plantation d'espèces exotiques, peuvent modifier la qualité des ressources, les assemblages de détritivores et le taux de décomposition de la litière dans les cours d'eau. Nous avons postulé que différentes ressources de litière pourraient influencer la colonisation et la dé-rive d'invertébrés habitant de petits cours d'eau de forêts humides tempérées dans le sud-ouest de la Colombie-Britannique (Canada). Des feuilles de qualités et d'origines différentes ont été incubées dans des chenaux au fil de l'eau afin de vérifier cette hypothèse. La séquence des taux de décomposition des feuilles, en ordre décroissant, était la suivante : aulne > aulne + thuya > thuya ≥ eucalyptus. La litière de thuya se décomposait plus rapidement quand elle était mélangée avec de la litière d'aulne que par elle-même. Les invertébrés qui colonisaient les sacs de feuilles étaient principalement des collecteurscueilleurs et des déchiqueteurs, en particulier sur les feuilles d'aulne. La densité des invertébrés dans le matériel en dérive variait selon la période d'incubation et semblait être contrôlée par la qualité des feuilles puisqu'il y avait plus d'individus dérivant de chenaux contenant des feuilles d'aulnes que de chenaux contenant des feuilles de thuya ou d'eucalyptus. Nous avons toutefois observé différentes réponses pour des espèces d'invertébrés données selon les caractères des feuilles, en particulier chez les espèces de chironomidés, les invertébrés les plus nombreux. En effet...

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Section: Invertebrate Dynamicssupporting

confidence: 71%

Leaf quality influences invertebrate colonization and drift in a temperate rainforest stream

García

Richardson

Pardo

2012

Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci.

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“…For example, studies in Portugal have shown that decomposition of eucalypt leaf litter can have deleterious effects. In one study, comparisons between deciduous-and eucalypt-dominated sites indicated that eucalyptus leaf litter had a subtle negative effect on invertebrate community structure, particularly on shredders (Larranaga et al, 2006). In another study, decomposition of Eucalyptus globulus leaf litter was associated with low dissolved oxygen, high acidity, and high levels of phenolic compounds in isolated pools (Canhoto & Laranjeira, 2007).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modifying living space: an experimental study of the influences of vegetation on aquatic invertebrate community structure

Burdett

Watts

2008

Hydrobiologia

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In temporary freshwater systems, the type of vegetation within a system can influence community structure. Vegetation not only provides physical structure, but can also contribute to changes in abundance and quality of food and in water quality through decomposition. An experiment was undertaken using natural and artificial vegetation in small mesocosms to examine the influence of the physical structure of vegetation on invertebrate community structure in terms of water quality, food abundance, and physical structure. It was predicted that invertebrate community structure would be identical in natural and artificial treatments if the effect of vegetative decomposition was negligible.Furthermore, invertebrate community structure in bare ground treatments would be identical to those with vegetation if the physical structure of vegetation has no significant effect. Five treatments were used: a bare ground control, artificial vegetation (92), and natural vegetation treatments (grass, eucalypt leaf litter). Water quality, food abundance, and invertebrate abundance were examined after six weeks of inundation. All treatments had high water temperatures (34-40°C), and natural vegetation treatments had slightly higher conductivity (208-316 mS cm -1 ) and lower turbidity (40-231 NTU) than other treatments (47-156 mS cm -1 and 55-400 NTU, respectively). The physical structure of artificial vegetation did not significantly influence invertebrate community structure compared to the bare ground treatment, whereas treatments with decomposing natural vegetation had relatively low abundances of microcrustaceans (0-96 individuals/ mesocosm) and relatively high abundances of chironomids (192-1576 individuals/mesocosm) compared to other treatments ([100 microcrustaceans/mesocosm if present, and \370 chironomids/mesocosm, respectively). This suggests that food availability had greater importance than physical structure in determining community structure in these small aquatic ecosystems.

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“…In addition to those factors reflecting the position along the longitudinal gradient (e.g., altitude, distance from source, stream order, and channel width), these included riparian vegetation (determinative to shredders) (Cummins et al, 1989;Davies et al, 2005;Lecerf et al, 2005), fertilizer runoff (Delong and Brusven, 1998), food quantity and quality (Peeters et al, 2004;De Lange et al, 2005), presence of fish (Trigal et al, 2007) and human activities (agriculture, forestry, urbanization, etc.) (Larranaga et al, 2006). All these environmental factors can be highly variable along longitudinal gradient of river systems across different biomes and may result the observed discrepancies with the RCC predictions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Longitudinal patterns of macroinvertebrate functional feeding groups in a Chinese river system: A test for river continuum concept (RCC)

Jiang

Xiong

Xie

et al. 2011

Quaternary International

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Assessing impact of eucalyptus plantations on benthic macroinvertebrate communities by a litter exclusion experiment

Cited by 20 publications

References 50 publications

Leaf quality influences invertebrate colonization and drift in a temperate rainforest stream

Leaf quality influences invertebrate colonization and drift in a temperate rainforest stream

Modifying living space: an experimental study of the influences of vegetation on aquatic invertebrate community structure

Longitudinal patterns of macroinvertebrate functional feeding groups in a Chinese river system: A test for river continuum concept (RCC)

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