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542 results for “leaf litter”
Leaf litter capture in the carnivorous pitcher plant, <em>Sarracenia purpurea</em>: a preliminary study
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Models for Rapid estimates of leaf litter chemistry using reflectance spectroscopy
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Spectral and trait data for Rapid estimates of leaf litter chemistry using reflectance spectroscopy
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Energetic mismatch induced by warming decreases leaf litter decomposition by aquatic detritivores
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Data from: Trechus (Coleoptera: Carabidae) of Appalachia: A phylogenetic insight into the history of high elevation leaf litter communities
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Dissolved C, N, and P release efficiency from temperate tree leaf litter
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Data from: Leaf-associated macroinvertebrate assemblage and leaf litter breakdown in headwater streams depend on local riparian vegetation
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Data from: Compounding negative effects of leaf litter absence and belowground competition from an invasive spring ephemeral on native spring ephemeral growth and reproduction
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Living in the litter: The influence of tree leaf litter on wetland communities, 2006.
Empirical research in streams has demonstrated that terrestrial subsidies of tree leaf litter infl uence multiple community factors including composition, diversity and growth of individuals. However, little research has examined the importance of tree litter species on wetlands, which are ubiquitous across the landscape and serve as important habitats for a unique and diverse community of organisms. Using outdoor mesocosms, we assessed the impact of 12 litter monocultures and three litter mixtures (from both broadleaf and conifer trees) on pond communities containing gray tree frog tadpoles Hyla versicolor , periphyton, phytoplankton and zooplankton. We found that leaf litter species had substantial and diff erential impacts on all trophic groups in the community including eff ects on algal abundance, zooplankton density and amphibian growth. In many instances, patterns of responses were specifi c to individual litter species yet some responses, including both pH values and periphyton biomass, were generalizable to broad taxonomic groups. In addition, while most responses of litter mixtures were additive, we found evidence for antagonistic eff ects of litter mixing among responses of periphyton and amphibian body mass. Our results highlight the potential impact of human and naturally driven changes in forest composition on wetland communities through associated changes in leaf litter.
Leaf litter quality induces morphological and developmental changes in larval amphibians.
Aquatic consumers exhibit many types of inducible phenotypic responses to variation in resource quantity and quality. Leaf litter constitutes a primary resource in freshwater systems and variation in litter quality can alter the growth and development of aquatic consumers. It is therefore reasonable to hypothesize that variation in litter quality might also induce phenotypic changes in consumers. To test this hypothesis, we exposed two densities of wood frog (Lithobates sylvaticus [Rana sylvatica]) tadpoles to six chemically distinct species of leaf litter from temperate broadleaf and coniferous trees. After several weeks, we quantified development rate, growth rate, intestinal length, size of the oral disc, and five external dimensions of the tadpoles. In addition to substantial changes in growth and development rates, we found striking changes in all morphological responses among different leaf litter environments, including up to 14% longer intestines, 11% deeper tails, and 6% deeper tail muscles. In addition, we found strong relationships of total nitrogen content with all morphological features except growth rate. Our results indicate that differences in resource quality can induce phenotypic changes that are as large as or larger than changes induced by resource quantity. Our study also has substantial implications for the future of aquatic consumers living in forested wetlands given that these forests are currently experiencing widespread changes in tree composition.
Long-term Carbon and Nitrogen, and Phosphorus Dynamics of Leaf and Fine Root Litter project (LIDET-Long-term Intersite Decomposition Experiment Team) data for the ARC, Arctic LTER. 1990 to 2000.
This file is from the Long-term Carbon and Nitrogen, and Phosphorus Dynamics of Leaf and Fine Root Litter project (LIDET-Long-term Intersite Decomposition Experiment Team). This file contains only the Arctic LTER data. In particular the mass looses over the ten year study. Three types of fine roots (graminoid, hardwood, and conifer), six types of leaf litter (which ranged in lignin/nitrogen ratio from 5 to 75), and wooden dowels were used for litter incubations over a ten year period.
Murphy Dome: Moss (Hylocomium splendens) biomass results from a moss transplant and leaf litter manipulation experiment in three pairs of adjacent black spruce and birchs stands.
This dataset contains moss (Hylocomium splendens) growth from individual moss shoots within moss transplants in black spruce and paper birch stands. 10 mosses were marked with PVC beads in June 2013 and then each moss segment was measured in the field in June and September of 2013, 2014 and June and August 2015. All samples were harvested in 2015 and their dry weights were calculated. Moss biomass from other time periods were estimated using allometric equations. The data was collected in three blocks (A, B, and C) of adjacent black spruce and paper birch stands at Murphy Dome (access via Cache Creek road).
Murphy Dome: Moss (Hylocomium splendens and Pleurozium schreberi) biomass results from a birch leaf litter and leachates manipulation experiment in a black spruce stand.
This dataset contains moss (Hylocomium splendens and Pleurozium schreberi) growth from individual moss shoots in a black spruce stand. 10 H. splendens and 5 P. schreberi were marked with PVC beads and measured in September 2014 and then each moss segment was measured again August 2015. All samples were harvested in 2015 and their dry weights were calculated. Moss biomass from other time periods were estimated using allometric equations. The data was collected in the spruce stands of block A only at Murphy Dome (access via Cache Creek road).
Murphy Dome: Covariates measured on the sampling units of moss (Hylocomium splendens) from a moss transplant and leaf litter manipulation experiment in three pairs of adjacent black spruce and birchs stands. This data is associated to the file MD_MossBiomass_2013-2015.xlsx
This data contains sampling unit level variables associated with the moss measurements from MD_MossBiomass_2013-2015.txt. It include the percent cover of leaf litter through time, fungus cover in 2015, moisture in 2015, and percent openness of the tree canopy measured in July 2014.
Murphy Dome: Moss-associated N-fixation measurements in a moss transplant and leaf litter manipulation experiment in black spruce and paper birch stands
This dataset contains nitrogen fixation measurements from the moss transplant experiment in the state forest on Murphy Dome (Cache Creek Road). Fixation rates were measured in August 2015 in two moss species: Hylocomium splendens and Pleurozium schreberi in black spruce and paper birch stands and associated with leaf litter manipulations.
Seasonal leaf litter mass (2000 - 2010) for the Functional Diversity project, Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory, Otto, North Carolina
The importance of the herbaceous layer in regulating ecosystem processes in deciduous forests is generally unknown. We use a manipulative study in a rich, mesophytic cove forest in the southern Appalachians to test the following hypotheses: (i) the herbaceous functional group (HFG) in mesophytic coves accelerates carbon and nutrient cycling, (ii) high litter quality input and rapid nutrient turnover associated with HFG will have a positive effect on overstory tree growth, and (iii) the HFG regulates tree regeneration with negative effects on seedling establishment due to competition for resources. We established treatment plots in a mesic, cove-hardwoods forest and removed the herbaceous flora (HR, removed twice per year) or added herbaceous organic material (OMA, once per year) for comparison to a no removal (NR) reference for a total of 14 years. The OMA treatment stimulated soil N-mineralization and increased litterfall mass and N content. OMA N-mineralization rates were more than two times greater than both the NR and HR treatments; however, we did not detect significant differences in soil CO2 efflux among treatments. Higher overstory litterfall mass and N in the OMA treatment plots indicated that overstory trees were benefiting from the enhanced soil N-mineralization. Higher overstory leaf mass and N suggests an important linkage between HR and aboveground net primary production even though this did not translate into greater tree basal area increment. We found an increase in regeneration of all tree species with HFG removal, and the response was particularly evident for Acer rubrum seedlings.
The importance of crayfish in the breakdown of rhododendron leaf litter at the Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory in 1999
Rhododendron (Rhododendron maximum) is a common evergreen shrub in riparian areas of the southern Appalachians, where its leaves can comprise a large proportion of leaf litter in streams. However, they are relatively refractory and generally considered a low quality food resource for detritivores. Our objective was to assess whether macroconsumers (primarily crayfish (Cambarus bartonii)) influence rhododendron leaf breakdown in a forested southern Appalachian stream in both summer (when leaves other than rhododendron are relatively scarce) and autumn (when other leaves are relatively abundant). We conducted two leaf decay experiments, one in summer and one in autumn, using pre-conditioned leaves. Macroconsumers were excluded from the benthos of a fourth-order stream using electric fences; we predicted that excluding macroconsumers would reduce the decay rate of rhododendron leaves in both summer and autumn.
Small Mammal Exclosure Study (SMES) Leaf Litter Study in the Chihuahuan Desert Grassland and Shrubland at the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge, New Mexico
The purpose of this study is to determine whether or not the activities of small mammals regulate plant community structure, plant species diversity, and spatial vegetation patterns in Chihuahuan Desert shrublands and grasslands. What role if any do indigenous small mammal consumers have in maintaining desertified landscapes in the Chihuahuan Desert? Additionally, how do the effects of small mammals interact with changing climate to affect vegetation patterns over time? This is data for cover of dead plant leaf litter accumulations on soil surfaces measured on each of the SMES study plots. Leaf litter cover was measured from each of the 36 one-meter2 quadrats twice each year when vegetation was measured.
Data from: Invertebrate phenology modulates the effect of the leaf economics spectrum on litter decomposition rate across 41 subtropical woody plant species
<ol> <li>Litter quality and decomposers are critical to carbon and nutrient cycling through litter decomposition. However, how relationships between litter quality and invertebrate detritivores change litter mass loss through time is poorly known. Species' initial leaf litter quality, as a legacy of their position on the "leaf economics spectrum" (LES), may determine the invertebrate contribution to litter mass loss. This contribution may change through time, as both population peaks of invertebrate detritivores and litter quality of given species will change through time.</li> <li>Here we introduce invertebrate phenology into a conceptual model of drivers of litter mass loss. We hypothesized that in the early decomposition period, LES can predict litter decomposability with or without a strong invertebrate contribution, i.e., litter with higher nutrient content would decompose faster. But in the later decomposition period, when higher quality litter will already have decomposed too much and lower quality litters have still been less degraded, a strong invertebrate peak would coincide with relatively more consumption of initially lower quality litters; this would lead to a hump-back relationship between leaf litter mass loss and initial LES position in this period.</li> <li>We tested our hypothesis through a one-year field decomposition experiment using leaf litter of 41 woody species in each of two sites in subtropical forest in China; only one of these sites had a strong late peak of leaf litter-feeding moth larvae in the litter layer.</li> <li>LES score of litter species had a positive linear relationship with litter mass loss before the key invertebrate consumer peaks in the litter layer. However, with the invertebrates peaking later into the decomposition process, the invertebrate consumption peaked at initially lower quality litters, which altered the species' decomposability trajectory on the LES, consistent with the hypothesized hump-back relationship between leaf litter mass loss and LES. This phenomenon resulted in a strongly reduced slope of cumulative mass loss on initial LES score across species.</li> <li>Our finding highlights the importance of considering interactions between the timing of detritivore activities and the timing of litter quality for better understanding the relationships between soil animals and ecosystem carbon and nutrient cycling.</li> </ol>
Environmental determinants of leaf-litter ant community composition along an elevational gradient
Ant communities are extremely diverse and provide a wide variety of ecological functions in tropical forests. Here we investigated the abiotic factors driving ant composition turnover across an elevational gradient at Mont Itoupé, French Guiana. Mont Itoupé is an isolated mountain whose top is covered by cloud forests, a biogeographical rarity that is likely to be threatened according to climate change scenarios in the region. We examined the influence of six soil, climatic and LiDAR-derived vegetation structure variables on leaf-litter ant assembly (267 species) across nine 0.12-ha plots disposed at three elevations (ca. 400, 600 and 800m asl). We tested (a) whether species co-occurring within a same plot or a same elevation were more similar in terms of taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic composition, than species from different plots/elevations, and (b) which environmental variables significantly explained compositional turnover among plots. We found that the distribution of species and traits of ant communities along the elevational gradient was significantly explained by a turnover of environmental conditions, particularly in soil phosphorus and sand content, canopy height and mean annual relative humidity of soil. Our results shed light on the role exerted by environmental filtering in shaping ant community assembly in tropical forests. Identifying the environmental determinants of ant species distribution along tropical elevational gradients could help predicting the future impacts of global warming on biodiversity organization in vulnerable environments such as cloud forests.
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Allen Brain Atlas
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Annotated Behaviour and Observability Dataset (ABODe)
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