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MICROBIAL COLONIZATION, RESPIRATION, AND BREAKDOWN OF MAPLE LEAVES ALONG A STREAM-MARSH CONTINUUM
Citation:
Hill, B. AND W. T. Perrotte,Jr. MICROBIAL COLONIZATION, RESPIRATION, AND BREAKDOWN OF MAPLE LEAVES ALONG A STREAM-MARSH CONTINUUM. Hydrobiologia 312(1):11-16, (1995).
Description:
Breakdown rates, macroinvertebrate and bacterial colonization, and microbial respiration were measured on decaying maple (Acer saccharum) leaves at three sites along a stream-marsh continuum. Breakdown rates (-k+-SE) were 0.0284+-0.0045 d-1 for leaves in a high-gradient, non-tidal stream; 0.0112+-0.0019 d-1 for leaves at the confluence of the stream with a tidal, freshwater marsh; and 0.0062+-0.0009 d-1 for leaves in the tidal, freshwater marsh. Breakdown rates were significantly faster (ANCOVA,F 1t 0.008) at the high-gradient, non-tidal stream site and at the tidal stream site than in the tidal marsh. Macroinvertebrate density on decaying leaves was low at all sites (1t 7 organisms g-1 AFDM leaf mass) and was dominated by chironomids and amphipods. Bacterial density on decaying leaves ranged from 8.56 times 10-8 CFU g-1 AFDM leaf mass to 13.38 times 10-8 CFU g-1 AFDM. Cumulative microbial respiration, calculated as the product of mean respiration on a sampling date, days in the interval preceding the sampling date, and hours per day, accounted for 34.3+-6.0%, 53.0+-4.8%, and 51.5+-7.9% of the leaf mass loss (as carbon) at these sites. Although the breakdown rate was fastest at the non-tidal stream site, significantly less leaf mass was lost through microbial respiration. Most mass loss from leaves at this site was probably due to physical processing associated with stream habitats.