Comparative leaf litter decomposition in temporary and permanent streams in semi-arid regions of Israel

Herbst, G. N.; Reice, Seth R.

doi:10.1016/s0140-1963(18)31612-4

Cited by 32 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…The rates are much lower than previously recorded for species of Eucalyptus in streams (Barmuta, 1978 ;Blackburn & Petr, 1979 ;Pidgeon & Cairns, 1981 ;Herbst & Reice, 1982;O'Keefe & Lake, in press) and are as low or lower than rates recorded for conifer needles (Sedell et al, 1975 ;Short et al, 1980). Almost 75% of the leaf material processed over the four month period in both seasons was lost through leaching during the first week .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 54%

Processing of leaf litter in a northern jarrah forest stream, Western Australia: I. Seasonal differences

Bunn

1988

Hydrobiologia

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Seasonal differences in the processing of jarrah (Eucalyptus marginata) leaves were examined in a small forest stream of the Darling Range, Western Australia . Processing rates in both summer and winter were very low, placing this species in the `slow' category (k<0 .005) of Petersen & Cummins (1974) .Macroinvertebrates did not contribute to the processing of jarrah leaves during summer and autumn, coincident with the period of peak litter fall . The low quality of detritus entering the streams, and possibly some adverse interactions with the physical and chemical environment, inhibits processing during the summer months. As a consequence, a significant proportion of the coarse-particle detritus entering these streams may be exported unprocessed at the onset of high winter flows .In contrast with previous studies, jarrah leaves were processed at a faster rate during winter than summer . This seasonal difference can, in part, be attributed to the increased density and proportion of shredders at this time. Despite this, the processing of jarrah leaves during winter was very slow and must reflect the poor quality of this detritus as food for invertebrate consumers .

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 54%

Processing of leaf litter in a northern jarrah forest stream, Western Australia: I. Seasonal differences

Bunn

1988

Hydrobiologia

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“…Because breakdown rates were measured at least 31 days after flow resumption in the Albarine River, these results suggest that temporary streams remain persistently affected by drying events that have occurred throughout the previous summer season. Drying events not only strongly reduce breakdown processes when they occur in streams (Herbst and Reice 1982;Tate and Gurtz 1986;Boulton 1991;Corti et al 2011), but also affect persistently leaf litter breakdown process long after flow has resumed during late autumn and winter. Since the Albarine River presents a very seasonal drying pattern, with summer drying and flow resumption in late autumn or winter, and moderate inter-annual variations in the frequency and duration of high flows (Larned et al 2010b), it seems reasonable that relationships between intermittence indices and k observed for a particular year hold when averaging these indices over longer periods.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Others have found LLB rates to increase with the length of the wet period, which promotes leaching and creates more favorable conditions for microbes and invertebrates (Hietz 1984). By contrast, LLB is consistently slower in temporary streams than perennial systems (Herbst and Reice 1982;Boulton 1991;Pinna and Basset 2004). Short-term drying events immediately reduce breakdown processes in temporary streams, probably due to reduction in invertebrate density and richness (Boulton 1991;Maamri et al 1997;Corti et al 2011). Whether drying events at different spatio-temporal scales have a long-term influence on LLB during flow periods in temporary streams remains unknown.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Flow intermittence controls leaf litter breakdown in a French temporary alluvial river: the “drying memory”

Datry¹,

Corti²,

et al. 2011

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The inputs and breakdown of terrestrial leaf litter in streams is a fundamental ecological process that sustains in-stream foodwebs and secondary production. In temporary rivers, litter breakdown is reduced during dry phases, but the long-term effect of alternating drying and wetting cycles on litter breakdown is still poorly understood. We tested the hypothesis that leaf litter breakdown (LLB) in temporary rivers is primarily controlled by flow permanence (the number of flowing days over a given period expressed in %), and that drying events affect LLB during leaf fall periods through reduction of microbial activity and the modification of aquatic invertebrate assemblages. LLB rates (k), microbial activity and invertebrate assemblages were determined in winter at ten crosssections scattered along a flow permanence gradient on the temporary Albarine River, France. Results demonstrated that summer drying events affected the breakdown process for up to 6 months after flow has resumed in the river. LLB rates decreased exponentially with decreasing flow permanence, and with increasing drying event duration and frequency. These exponential relationships were observed for flow permanence variables calculated for the river for both 24-years and 1-year time periods prior to the experiment. A decrease in flow permanence from 100 to 85% led to a four-fold decrease in leaf litter breakdown rate. Microbial activity, which typically did not differ between cross-sections, failed to explain the betweencross-section differences in k. By contrast, invertebrate assemblages and, shredders, in particular, decreased exponentially with decreasing flow permanence and with increasing drying event duration and frequency.

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“…Both the general last decade. More pertinent among them are the F the fauna and the small differences bestudies on the running waters of Israel by Ortal & nations are convincingly emphasized in Por (1978); Bromley (1982); Herbst & Reice (1982); ning comparative analysis of the quan- Furth (1983); Herbst & Dimentman (1983); Herbst ,les of the colonization cages (Herbst et & Bromley (1984); Herbst & Mienis (1985). Zoogeographical discussions on the inland water fauna stage, i.e.…”

Section: General Conclusionmentioning

confidence: 99%

River Dan, headwater of the Jordan, an aquatic oasis of the Middle East

et al. 1986

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River Dan is the largest of the headwater rivers of the Jordan. The karstic exsurgence of the Dan has a seasonally stable output, a long stretch of strongly turbulent flow, stable temperature around 15.5 °C and high oxygen saturation. A total of 156 taxa, mainly at the species level, were identified from the river. These species are almost exclusively of Palearctic origin. About half of the species are limited to the northernmost part of Israel. The faunal complex described, does not present any longitudinal zonation for the 5 kilometers of turbulent flow; neither does it present seasonal changes in species composition. River Dan is considered to be a post-Pleistocenic river which has an important function of refugium for a wide area of aquatic waterbodies in the area, including the presently drained Lake Hula. It is suggested that in the Illies scheme of stream classification, River Dan might represent a type of stream belonging to a 'pseudorhithral' along with other stenothermic warm water torrents of the tropical-subtropical climatic belt.

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Comparative leaf litter decomposition in temporary and permanent streams in semi-arid regions of Israel

Cited by 32 publications

References 17 publications

Processing of leaf litter in a northern jarrah forest stream, Western Australia: I. Seasonal differences

Processing of leaf litter in a northern jarrah forest stream, Western Australia: I. Seasonal differences

Flow intermittence controls leaf litter breakdown in a French temporary alluvial river: the “drying memory”

River Dan, headwater of the Jordan, an aquatic oasis of the Middle East

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