The role of non-caddisfly taxa on detrital processing in montane ponds

Abstract

Understanding the processing of detritus by different macroinvertebrates in montane ponds is important because either directly or indirectly most energy and nutrients flow through the detrital pathway. Understanding the degree to which macroinvertebrate species vary in detrital processing is central to predicting how climate- or other environmentally-induced shifts in species abundance and distribution will effect detritus processing and subsequent energy flow and nutrient cycling. Thus, our main question is, what is the role of non-caddisfly taxa on detrital processing in montane ponds? We tested three hypotheses 1) Compared to ​L. externus, chironomids (non-biting midges) effects may be small because of their small body size. Alternatively, because metabolic activity is inversely related to body size, midge per unit body mass effects may be equal or greater than ​L. externus​. Size can play a large factor in how much an animal can consume. Next, we hypothesize that 2) non-caddisfly taxa, such as lymnaeidae and amphipods,will have lower detrital breakdown rates than caddisfly taxa in microcosm. Non-caddisfly taxa spend their entire life cycle in the ponds, they may have higher processing rates in natural ponds. Finally, we hypothesize that 3) caddisflies (​L. externus​) dominate detrital processing because they are processing during their period of maximum growth. Using a randomized block experimental design, we tested the effects on detrital sedge processing of five different species of aquatic invertebrates that inhabit high elevation ponds near Gothic, Colorado, USA. We compared differences in the five species’ ability to breakdown detritus from coarse to fine particles to one another and to a control treatment with no animals.. We found that two species, a caddisfly ​L externus​, used in previous experiments and used here as a reference, and chironomids processed the most sedge detritus, and detritus processing per biomass effects of chironomids were the highest. Thus, in addition to caddisflies, which have been considered the dominant detritivores in these montane ponds, chironomids may be important detritivores especially if their high per biomass effects are combined with high population biomass in natural ponds.

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