Riparian Forests and Macroinvertebrates Support Multiple Ecosystem Processes Across Temperate and Tropical Streams

作者：Rebecca Oester, Paula M. de Omena, Larissa C. Costa, Marcelo S. Moretti, Florian Altermatt, Andreas Bruder · 发表于：Ecosystems · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1007/s10021-025-01024-0 · 被引用次数：1 · 研究领域：Freshwater macroinvertebrate diversity and ecology、Hydrology and Sediment Transport Processes、Environmental DNA in Biodiversity Studies

Ecosystems are interconnected, and ecological processes frequently transcend the physical boundaries that define them. Fluxes of energy, matter, and organisms not only form important ecosystem processes within but also between ecosystems. However, the role of biological drivers in simultaneously supporting multiple ecosystem processes at the interface between aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems (that is, aquatic-terrestrial ecosystem processes) remains poorly understood, both locally and across regions. To assess the relative importance of riparian forests, detritus consumers and leaf litter mixing on different ecosystem processes of freshwater detrital food webs, we used leaf litter bags to subsidise local terrestrial leaf litter to forested and non-forested headwater stream sites in a temperate and tropical region. We also manipulated macroinvertebrate access and the composition of leaf litter mixtures. We measured three key aquatic-terrestrial ecosystem processes: biomass accrual of aquatic fungi, nitrogen loss, and decomposition rates of local leaf litter. Across both temperate and tropical streams, ecosystem multifunctionality, that is, the simultaneous sustaining of these processes, was positively associated with macroinvertebrates and riparian forests but not with leaf litter mixing. Especially leaf litter nitrogen loss and decomposition rates were consistently higher when macroinvertebrates had access across all leaf litter species. Decomposition rates were also positi...