Leaf litter breakdown rates in boreal streams: does shredder species richness matter?

• DOI: 10.1046/j.1365-2427.2001.00655.x
• Publication Date: 2003-03-11T21:27:20Z
• Authors: Micael Jonsson; Björn Malmqvist; Per‐Ola Hoffsten
• Keywords: Litter; Plant litter

1. Leaf litter breakdown rates were assessed in 23 boreal streams of varying size (first–seventh order) central and northern Sweden. 2. Shredders most abundant small streams, while shredder species richness showed a hump‐shaped relationship with stream order, fourth order streams. 3. In partial least‐squares regression analysis, year, water temperature, abundance those factors correlating strongly leaf rates. Shredder was more correlated than abundance, biomass no such correlation. 4. These data suggest that is an important variable terms dynamics