Multiple Trophic Levels of a Forest Stream Linked to Terrestrial Litter Inputs

作者：J. Bruce Wallace, Susan L. Eggert, J. L. Meyer, Jackson R. Webster · 发表于：Science · 年份：1997 · DOI：10.1126/science.277.5322.102 · 被引用次数：1390 · 研究领域：Freshwater macroinvertebrate diversity and ecology、Hydrology and Sediment Transport Processes、Fish Ecology and Management Studies

The importance of terrestrial-aquatic linkages was evaluated by a large-scale, 3-year exclusion of terrestrial leaf litter inputs to a forest stream. Exclusion of leaf litter had a strong bottom-up effect that was propagated through detritivores to predators. Most invertebrate taxa in the predominant habitat declined in either abundance, biomass, or both, compared with taxa in a nearby reference stream. However, fauna in moss habitats changed little, indicating that different food webs exist in habitats of different geomorphology. Thus, the ecosystem-level consequences of excluding detrital inputs to an ecosystem were demonstrated. Inputs of riparian detritus are essential for conservation or restoration of diverse stream food webs.