The Timing of Winter-growing Shredder Species and Leaf Litter Turnover Rate in an Oligotrophic Lake, SE Sweden

Abstract

Small freshwater systems often depend on allochthonous organic subsidies to sustain productivity. Benthic invertebrates consuming coarse detritus maintain the energy flow by conveying dead organic matter into prey items and increase the food availability for other consumers. Compared to lotic systems, the dynamics of coarse detritus decomposition has not received much attention in lakes. The objectives of this study were to investigate the seasonality of leaf litter turnover and the timing of abundance of potential shredder species in a typical oligotrophic boreal lake. Leaf litter was experimentally exposed in litterbags in the littoral zone in Lake Valen from autumn to late spring two consecutive years. The weight loss rate of leaf litter initially followed the same pattern during both winter periods, but was markedly influenced by freezing in late winter the second year. Further, the seasonal variation patterns in abundance in litterbags were quite different among the potential shredder species. Only the limnephilid caddis larvae showed a density variation pattern possible to connect to the weight loss of leaf litter in litterbags. Otherwise frequent detritivores such as Asellus aquaticus and Leptophlebia marginata displayed lowest density in litterbags during the main weight loss period. However, after the long ice period the second winter the remaining leaf litter seemed to be consumed by A. aquaticus. With increasing knowledge of the initial leaf breakdown process and the guild of shredders in lakes, the decomposition rate may also in this habitat become a useful instrument when evaluating the impact from perturbations on ecosystem function.