Boyero, Luz

Pearson, Richard G

Helson, Julie E

Bruder, Andreas

Albarino, Ricardo J

Yule, Catherine M

Arunachalam, Muthukumarasamy

Davies, Judy N

Figueroa, Ricardo

Flecker, Alexander S

Rarnirez, Alonso

Death, Russell G

Gessner, Mark O

Iwata, Tomoya

Mathooko, Jude M

Mathuriau, Catherine

Goncalves Jr, Jose F

Moretti, Marcelo S

Jinggut, Tajang

Lamothe, Sylvain

M'Erimba, Charles

Ratnarajah, Lavenia

Schindler, Markus H

Barmuta, Leon A

Castela, Jose

Buria, Leonardo M

Cornejo, Aydee

Villanueva, Veronica D

West, Derek C

Ferreira, Veronica

Graca, Manuel AS

Dudgeon, David

Boulton, Andrew J

Callisto, Marcos

Chauvet, Eric

2011

The decomposition of plant litter is one of the most important ecosystem processes in the biosphere and is particularly sensitive to climate warming. Aquatic ecosystems are well suited to studying warming effects on decomposition because the otherwise confounding influence of moisture is constant. By using a latitudinal temperature gradient in an unprecedented global experiment in streams, we found that climate warming will likely hasten microbial litter decomposition and produce an equivalent decline in detritivore-mediated decomposition rates. As a result, overall decomposition rates should remain unchanged. Nevertheless, the process would be profoundly altered, because the shift in importance from detritivores to microbes in warm climates would likely increase CO₂production and decrease the generation and sequestration of recalcitrant organic particles. In view of recent estimates showing that inland waters are a significant component of the global carbon cycle, this implies consequences for global biogeochemistry and a possible positive climate feedback.

Ecology Letters, 14(3), p. 289-294

1461-0248

1461-023X

https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/13030

en

Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd

A global experiment suggests climate warming will not accelerate litter decomposition in streams but might reduce carbon sequestration

Journal Article

Publication