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Presented at the NABS Annual meeting, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 2002
in Food Webs
THE ECOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF SPECIES RICHNESS FOR DECOMPOSITION OF CPOM IN LITTORAL OF SOUTH-SWEDISH LAKES.
U.G.A. Bjelke. Freshwater Ecology Group, Department of Biology and Environmental Sciences, University of Kalmar, 391 82 Kalmar, Sweden
Does species richness in a functional group matter for the rate of ecosystem functions, e.g. primary production or decomposition? Or is the total biomass in the guild the utmost important factor? The current extinction of species has made this issue a hot topic in ecology.
This poster presents an ongoing study, treating the role of individual species of shredders for CPOM decomposition in the littoral of small south-Swedish forest lakes. In order to make a species-specific contribution to the process of decomposition, the species must show niche differentiations. I have examined several aspects of the dynamics in this functional group of benthic invertebrates; spatial and temporal differentiations, variations in shredding efficiency, and the short-term effects of adding or subtracting species to the process of decomposition.
It seems that a temporal differentiation is the most pronounced effect of species richness in this community. The CPOM input to this system occurs annually at fall, but the plant species differ in recalcitrance to breakdown, making the detritus a food source throughout the year. This fact makes a biodiverse community of shredders, with decomposers active during different times of the year, more efficient in terms of decomposition.
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