The Effects of Spatial Scale on Breakdown of Leaves in a Tropical Watershed

The objective was to assess the effects of natural variation in the physical structure of the environment on biological communities and on the processing of Eucalyptus cloeziana and Inga laurina and to identify the controlling factors at different scales along stream order gradients. The study area consisted of 14 sampling sites distributed within a tropical watershed (1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th order streams replicated in 4 sub-basins). Our samples consisted of 3 g of leaves of E. cloeziana (high-quality) and I. laurina (low-quality) placed in 252 bags with 10mm mesh (measured by the chemical composition of the detritus). Four samples of each leaf type were collected periodically (three times) over a period of 75–125 days and washed on a sieve to separate the invertebrates. A series of leaf disks were cut to determine ash-free dry mass, polyphenol, lignin, cellulose, total microbial biomass and fungal biomass, and the remaining material was oven-dried to determine the dry weight. We performed analyses within and between spatial scales (regional and local) to assess which watershed scale was the more import determinant of the leaf breakdown rate (k). The microbial and shredder were most influenced at the local scale (stream order). Shredders were influenced by microorganisms, with stronger interactions between them than were found to drive the k at the local scale. Moreover, differences in the overall k and abiotic variables were more strongly influenced at the regional scale (sub-basin), showing that the study scale alters the response of the studied variables. We found higher k values at higher values of water velocity, dissolved oxygen and temperature, all of which accelerate biological metabolism in response to variations on the regional scale. Watersheds with warmer microclimates and streams with higher nutrient levels and oxygen could be accelerating the ecosystem metabolism, independent of the detritus quality.