Article
Trophic-level dependent effects on CO2 emissions from experimental stream ecosystems
Global Change BIology
(2014)
Abstract
Concern over accelerating rates of species invasions and losses have initiated investigations into how local and global changes to predator abundance mediate trophic cascades that influence CO2 fluxes of aquatic ecosystems. However, to date, no studies have investigated how species additions or losses at other consumer trophic levels influence the CO2 flux of aquatic ecosystems. In this study, we added a large predatory stonefly, detritivorous stonefly, or grazer tadpole to experimental stream food webs and over a 70-day period quantified their effects on community composition, leaf litter decomposition, chlorophyll-a concentrations, and stream CO2 emissions. In general, streams where the large grazer or large detritivore were added showed no change in total invertebrate biomass, leaf litter loss, chlorophyll-aconcentrations, or stream CO2 emissions compared with controls; although we did observe a spike in CO2 emissions in the large grazer treatment following a substantial reduction in chlorophyll-a concentrations on day 28. However, the large grazer and large detritivore altered the community composition of streams by reducing the densities of other grazer and detritivore taxa, respectively, compared with controls.
Disciplines
Publication Date
2014
Citation Information
Edd Hammill. "Trophic-level dependent effects on CO2 emissions from experimental stream ecosystems" Global Change BIology Vol. 20 Iss. 11 (2014) p. 3386 - 3396 Available at: http://works.bepress.com/edd-hammill/46/