Top‐down and bottom‐up control of litter decomposers in streams

Abstract

Summary Detritivores preferentially consume certain aquatic hyphomycete species while rejecting others. Fungal identity may therefore be a crucial factor determining stream food‐web structure and complexity and extend the impact of microbial diversity to effects up through the food web. In this study, we examined if shredder feeding is affected by the identity of fungi on leaves (bottom‐up effects) and if preferences of shredders for particular fungi affect the composition of fungal assemblages (top‐down effects). Oak leaf discs were conditioned in microcosms with six individual fungal species previously reported as highly palatable (P), unpalatable/rejected (R) and intermediate (I). Additionally, three microcosms were inoculated with three mixtures of four fungal species, each consisting of a different subset of the six species. Colonised discs were offered to three detritivores with different feeding strategies: Proasellus sp. (Isopoda), Echinogammarus meridionalis (Amphipoda) and Schizopelex festiva (Trichoptera). When offered leaves colonised by single fungal species, consumption rates by E. meridionalis and S. festiva were higher on I, followed by P and, finally, R species. Consumption rates by Proasellus sp. were similar across fungal treatments. Consumption rates by the three invertebrates were also similar across all fungal multispecies treatments, suggesting that invertebrate preferences for, or rejection of, a given fungal species may be masked when it grows in proximity to other fungi. Composition and structure of fungal communities were not significantly affected by the feeding of any of the three invertebrates. Our results suggest that certain combinations of fungal and detritivore species result in unpredictable bottom‐up and top‐down effects in stream food webs.