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Loss of Key Riparian Plant Species Impacts Stream Ecosystem Functioning

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Abstract

Leaf litter of alder (Alnus glutinosa) is a key resource to detrital stream food webs. Due to its high quality and palatability, it is readily colonised by microorganisms and consumed by detritivores, contributing significantly to carbon and nutrient cycling and to ecosystem functioning. Given that this species has declined due to the spread of the pathogen Phytophthora alni, we investigated how its loss would alter leaf litter decomposition and associated stream assemblages of aquatic hyphomycetes and invertebrates, in a field experiment conducted in three streams. We compared litter mixtures containing alder plus three other species (Corylus avellana, Quercus robur and Salix atrocinerea; that is, 4-species treatments) with mixtures that excluded alder (3-species treatments) and all the monocultures (1-species treatments). The loss of alder reduced decomposition rates, despite the existence of an overall negative diversity effect after 3 weeks of exposure (that is, monocultures decomposed faster than mixtures) and no diversity effect after 6 weeks. Aquatic hyphomycete and detritivore assemblage structure in the mixture without alder differed from those of the mixture with alder and the monocultures, and the former had lower fungal sporulation rate and taxon richness. Our results suggest that alder loss from the riparian vegetation can significantly slow down the processing of organic matter in streams and produce shifts in stream assemblages, with potential consequences on overall ecosystem functioning. We highlight the importance of assessing the ecological consequences of losing single species, particularly those especially vulnerable to stressors, to complement the multiple studies that have assessed the effects of random species loss.

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Acknowledgements

This study was funded by the Spanish Ministry for Science, Innovation and Universities and FEDER (BioLoss project, Ref. RTI2018-095023-B- I00 to LB) and the Basque Government (Ref. IT951-16 to the Stream Ecology Group at the UPV/EHU). AA and NLR were supported by UPV/EHU and Basque Government predoctoral fellowships, respectively.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plant Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), 48940, Leioa, Spain

    Alberto Alonso, Javier Pérez, Silvia Monroy, Naiara López-Rojo, Ana Basaguren & Luz Boyero

  2. Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales-CSIC, Madrid, Spain

    Jaime Bosch

  3. Centro de Investigación, Seguimiento Y Evaluación, Parque Nacional de La Sierra de Guadarrama, Rascafría, Spain

    Jaime Bosch

  4. Research Unit of Biodiversity (CSIC, UO, PA), Oviedo University-Campus Mieres, Mieres, Spain

    Jaime Bosch

  5. Basque Foundation for Science, IKERBASQUE, Bilbao, Spain

    Luz Boyero

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  1. Alberto Alonso
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Correspondence to Alberto Alonso.

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Authors’ Contribution: LB and JB designed the study with feedback from JP and NLR; AA, JP, SM, NLR and AB conducted fieldwork; AA, JP, SM and NLR analysed the samples in the laboratory; AA analysed the data with substantial contributions from NLR and feedback from all other authors; AA and LB wrote the manuscript with feedback from all other authors.

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Alonso, A., Pérez, J., Monroy, S. et al. Loss of Key Riparian Plant Species Impacts Stream Ecosystem Functioning. Ecosystems 24, 1436–1449 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-020-00592-7

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