Salty water changes which fallen leaves feed stream life
Rojo D, Kidder RP, Colón-Gaud JC, Boyero L
Climate Adaptation
If you live near a coastal creek or tidal stream, the trees you plant along its banks, whether red maple or salt-tolerant grasses, will feed a completely different set of aquatic life depending on how salty that water gets.
Scientists dropped leaves from a freshwater maple tree and a saltwater marsh grass into water tanks with different salt levels, then let tiny aquatic bugs and fungi break them down. They found that salt marsh grass rotted fastest in fresh water, but the maple leaves actually broke down faster once the water got a bit salty, showing that the 'best' leaf litter for feeding stream ecosystems changes as waterways get saltier from things like rising seas or road salt runoff.
Key Findings
Detritivore-driven decomposition showed a significant interaction between salinity and leaf type: Spartina alterniflora decomposed fastest at low salinity (5 PSU) while Acer rubrum decomposed fastest at intermediate salinity (10 PSU)
Aquatic hyphomycete (fungal) sporulation increased on Spartina alterniflora but decreased on Acer rubrum across salinity treatments
Low salinity boosted overall fungal activity, but this benefit disappeared or reversed as salinity increased further, tested across three levels (0, 5, and 10 PSU)
chevron_right Technical Summary
As streams and rivers become saltier from climate change and coastal flooding, the mix of leaf litter falling into them matters more than expected: red maple leaves break down faster at moderate salt levels while salt marsh grass breaks down faster in fresh water, meaning changes in nearby vegetation and salinity together reshape stream food webs.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Multiple drivers of leaf litter decomposition under salinity stress.
Salinity shifts driven by global change can strongly influence detritus-based stream ecosystems by altering leaf litter decomposition, a key ecological process known to depend on both the identity ...
open_in_new Read full abstractAbstract copyright held by the original publisher.
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