Journal
MICROBIAL ECOLOGY
Volume 67, Issue 2, Pages 245-255Publisher
SPRINGER
DOI: 10.1007/s00248-013-0306-0
Keywords
-
Categories
Funding
- RivFunction project (EC) [EVK1-CT-2001-00088]
- Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness [CGL2011-23984-C04-01]
- Basque Government [IT-302-10]
- University of the Basque Country [9/UPV00118.310-14476/2002]
- Spanish Ministry of Education
- University of the Basque Country
Ask authors/readers for more resources
We investigated how fungal decomposer (aquatic hyphomycetes) communities colonizing alder and eucalyptus leaf litter respond to changes in habitat characteristics (transplantation experiment). We examined the breakdown of leaf materials and the associated fungal communities at two contrasting sites, a headwater stream (H) and a midreach (M). Agroforestry increased from headwater to midreach. One month after the start of experiments at both sites, some leaf samples from the midreach site were transplanted to the headwater site (M-H treatment). Although both sites showed similar dissolved inorganic nutrient concentrations, eucalyptus leaves initially incubated at the midreach site (M, M-H) increased their breakdown rate compared to those incubated along the experiment at the headwater site (H). Alder breakdown rate was not enhanced, suggesting that their consumption was not limited by nutrient availability. Sporulation rates clearly differed between leaf types (alder > eucalyptus) and streams (H > M), but no transplantation effect was detected. When comparing conidial assemblages after transplantation, an inoculum effect (persistence of early colonizing species) was clear in both leaf species. Substrate preference and shifts in the relative importance of some fungal species along the process were also observed. Overall, our results support the determining role of the initial conditioning phase on the whole litter breakdown process, highlighting the importance of intrinsic leaf characteristics and those of the incubation habitat.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available