Organic-matter decomposition as a bioassessment tool of stream functioning: A comparison of eight decomposition-based indicators exposed to different environmental changes

Ferreira, Verónica; Silva, João; Cornut, Julien; Sobral, Olímpia; Bachelet, Quentin; Bouquerel, Jonathan; Danger, Michaël

doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2021.118111

Cited by 15 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The activity of decomposers (microorganisms and invertebrates) is crucial not only in leaf litter breakdown, but also in indicating ecosystem quality (Ferreira et al 2021;Brosed et al 2022). The occurrence (Ferreira et al 2021), frequency (Rezende et al 2014a), and distribution (Correa-Araneda et al 2022) of decomposers organisms can provide essential information about the conservation status of the environment they inhabit (Chauvet et al 2016;Ferreira et al 2021;Brosed et al 2022). Identifying the organisms that make up the decomposer fauna of each environment allows for an understanding of the organic matter dynamics within a particular ecosystem, which can facilitate its management and conservation (Tank et al 2010;Graça et al 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Several studies have examined the impact of human activities on leaf litter breakdown and invertebrate communities (Chauvet et al 2016;Ferreira et al 2021;Brosed et al 2022). Litter breakdown rates typically show a variable pattern (Hill et al 2022), accelerating with moderate nutrient input in water (Tagliaferro et al 2022), remaining neutral (Smith and Chadwick 2014), or decreasing due to the harmful effect of pollutants on decomposer communities (Torres and Ramírez 2014; Classen-Rodríguez et al 2019; Wymore et al 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Species of leaf litter are more important than urbanization effects for litter mass loss in semi-arid river

Silva,

Carneiro,

Albuquerque

et al. 2024

Preprint

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Leaf litter mass loss plays a crucial role in ecosystem processes, and understanding the factors that influence this process is essential, particularly in semi-arid riparian zones. This study investigated the impact of plant species (Erythrina velutina, Anacardium occidentale, Tabebuia aurea, Croton sonderianus, and Hymenaea courbaril) and environmental conditions (before and after urban) on leaf litter mass loss in these ecosystems. We utilized litter bags containing senescent leaves to evaluate the density and richness of invertebrates, shredder and scraper abundance and measured the mass loss of litter after oven drying. We observed that plant litter with higher palatability characteristics experienced faster mass loss when exposed to less palatable leaf resources, suggesting a "fertility islands" effect driven by increased invertebrate density and scraper abundance. Additionally, river sections downstream of urban areas exhibited higher mass loss, likely attributed to elevated nutrient concentrations and water temperature. The prevalence of larger-bodied scraper species (leaf tissue fragmentation by radulae) indicates their role in driving mass loss processes. Thiaridae, Lymnaeidae, and Planorbiidae can act as intermediate hosts for various parasitic diseases affecting humans and animals, with special concern for Thiaridae downstream of urban areas due to increased human waste, increasing the risk of contamination. It is important to consider both biotic and abiotic factors in leaf litter mass loss, emphasizing this process as a valuable environmental indicator.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Species of leaf litter are more important than urbanization effects for litter mass loss in semi-arid river

Silva,

Carneiro,

Albuquerque

et al. 2024

Preprint

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“…Tea bags have been used in largescale studies aiming at assessing the drivers of litter decomposition in the soil, while controlling for intraspecific variation in litter quality (Djukic et al 2018;Petraglia et al 2019;Fanin et al 2020). Although tea bags were first proposed as a method to address litter decomposition in terrestrial systems (Keuskamp et al 2013), they have recently gain track in aquatic ecosystems, especially in wetlands (Lalimi et al 2018;Mueller et al 2018;Marley et al 2019;Trevathan-Tachett et al 2021), but also in lakes (Seelen et al 2019) and streams (Peralta-Maraver et al 2019;Ferreira et al 2021). Despite that the tea used in tea bags has undergone a series of modifications during processing for commercialization (e.g., grinding, oxidation), the decomposition of green and rooibos teas in aquatic ecosystems seems to respond to environmental conditions predictably, suggesting that they can be used as a surrogate for the decomposition of natural leaf litter (Peralta-Maraver et al 2019;Seelen et al 2019;Trevathan-Tackett et al 2021;Ferreira et al 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although tea bags were first proposed as a method to address litter decomposition in terrestrial systems (Keuskamp et al 2013), they have recently gain track in aquatic ecosystems, especially in wetlands (Lalimi et al 2018;Mueller et al 2018;Marley et al 2019;Trevathan-Tachett et al 2021), but also in lakes (Seelen et al 2019) and streams (Peralta-Maraver et al 2019;Ferreira et al 2021). Despite that the tea used in tea bags has undergone a series of modifications during processing for commercialization (e.g., grinding, oxidation), the decomposition of green and rooibos teas in aquatic ecosystems seems to respond to environmental conditions predictably, suggesting that they can be used as a surrogate for the decomposition of natural leaf litter (Peralta-Maraver et al 2019;Seelen et al 2019;Trevathan-Tackett et al 2021;Ferreira et al 2021). Green and rooibos teas also seem to be considerably colonized by prokaryota, protozoa and eumetazoa invertebrates in wetlands and streams (Peralta-Maraver et al 2019;Trevathan-Tackett et al 2021), and to support substantial microbial activity under laboratory conditions simulating wetland environment (Trevathan-Tackett et al 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microbial colonization and decomposition of commercial tea and native alder leaf litter in temperate streams

et al. 2021

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Leaf litter decomposition in streams is a fundamental ecosystem process that allows for the cycling of nutrients. The rate at which leaf litter decomposes is greatly controlled by its intrinsic characteristics. However, intraspecific variation in leaf litter characteristics poses a major challenge for large-scale studies aiming at identifying the environmental moderators of leaf litter decomposition. Thus, several standardized organic substrates have been proposed as surrogates for leaf litter. Tea bags were proposed as a standardized alternative to leaf litter for studies in soil and their use in aquatic ecosystems has been growing in recent years. It is therefore necessary to evaluate how tea is colonized and decomposed by aquatic microbial decomposers to assess its usefulness as a surrogate for leaf litter in litter decomposition studies. Here we compared the microbial colonization (based on the reproductive activity of aquatic hyphomycetes) and decomposition of green and rooibos teas and native alder leaf litter in two streams differing in environmental conditions. Colonization of green tea was lower than that of alder leaf litter, but their decomposition rates were similar. In contrast, colonization of rooibos tea was similar to that of alder leaf litter, but it decomposed 3-4 × slower. Results were consistent in both streams. Despite differences in magnitude, dynamics of microbial colonization and decomposition of tea were similar to those of alder leaf litter and were sensitive to substrate characteristics. Tea may be used as a surrogate for leaf litter in studies addressing microbial-driven leaf litter decomposition in streams.

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Changes in functional diversity of aquatic invertebrates across urbanization levels in a coastal island, Brazil

Lemes da Silva,

de Macedo-Soares,

Serra

et al. 2024

Hydrobiologia

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Organic-matter decomposition as a bioassessment tool of stream functioning: A comparison of eight decomposition-based indicators exposed to different environmental changes

Cited by 15 publications

References 55 publications

Species of leaf litter are more important than urbanization effects for litter mass loss in semi-arid river

Species of leaf litter are more important than urbanization effects for litter mass loss in semi-arid river

Microbial colonization and decomposition of commercial tea and native alder leaf litter in temperate streams

Changes in functional diversity of aquatic invertebrates across urbanization levels in a coastal island, Brazil

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