Abstract
Environment, litter composition and decomposer community are known to be the main drivers of litter decomposition in aquatic ecosystems. However, it remains unclear whether litter quality or functional diversity prevails under warming conditions. Using tank bromeliad ecosystems, we evaluated the combined effects of warming, litter quality and litter functional diversity on the decomposition process. We also assessed the contribution of macroinvertebrates and microorganisms in explaining litter decomposition patterns using litter bags made with different mesh sizes. Our results showed that litter decomposition was driven by litter functional diversity and was increasingly higher under warming, in both mesh sizes. Decomposition was explained by increasing litter dissimilarities in C and N. Our results highlight the importance of considering different aspects of litter characteristics (e.g., quality and functional diversity) in order to predict the decomposition process in freshwater ecosystems. Considering the joint effect of warming and litter traits aspects allow a more refined understanding of the underlying mechanisms of climate change and biodiversity shifts effects on ecosystem functioning.
Highlights
Environment, litter composition and decomposer community are known to be the main drivers of litter decomposition in aquatic ecosystems
Few studies contrasted the importance of each litter trait aspect to drive decomposition in freshwater ecosystems, which might help understanding the dynamics of this function, as the control of this process encompasses complex interactions between abiotic and biotic factors[26,27,28]
Decomposition rates did not differ between mesh sizes (Table 1; Supplementary Fig. S3), meaning that microorganisms, and not macroinvertebrate detritivores, controlled the detrital processing
Summary
Environment, litter composition and decomposer community are known to be the main drivers of litter decomposition in aquatic ecosystems. Understanding the mechanisms that cause the effects of litter diversity may help ecologists to predict the impacts of species losses and shifts in plant communities and the consequent effects on freshwater ecosystems. This is relevant in a context of environmental change, in which decrease in plant species diversity, shifts in species composition or even on their characteristics (chemical and physical) can result in changes in quality and functional diversity of litter and, affect communities and ecosystems that depend on this r esource[29]
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