HR: 1330h
AN: NB33I-05    [Abstracts]
TI: Effects of Manipulating Leaf Inputs on the Biomass and Communities of Aquatic Hyphomycetes in a Southern Appalachian Stream
AU: * Suberkropp, K
EM: ksuberkp@biology.as.ua.edu
AF: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487 United States
AU: Gulis, V
EM: v.gulis@bama.ua.edu
AF: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487 United States
AB: We are examining effects of manipulating leaf inputs on the fungi in a headwater Appalachian stream. Leaves had been excluded from the treatment stream for eight years at the beginning of the study. In the autumn of the first two years, rapidly decomposing leaves of three tree species (dogwood, yellow poplar, sweet gum) were added at the rate that leaves naturally fell into a reference stream nearby. In each of the following two autumns, leaves that decompose slowly (rhododendron, red oak, white pine) were added to the stream. Fungal biomass (ergosterol concentrations) associated with leaves increased after leaf input and exhibited similar patterns in both streams in all years. Conidia in transport in the treatment stream peaked at higher concentrations (3 to 15 times) than observed in the reference stream during April-May in the first year and February in the second year following addition of rapidly decomposing leaves. After addition of slowly decomposing leaves, conidia concentrations exhibited broader, later maxima than in the first two years or in the reference stream. Species richness of fungi was similar in both streams during leaf additions (average of 16-17 species per sampling date). However, relative abundances and ranking of dominant species were altered.
DE: 9800 GENERAL OR MISCELLANEOUS
SC: North American Benthological Society [NB]
MN: 2005 Joint Assembly