Decomposição de folhas de Picramnia sellowii (Picramniales: Picramniaceae) e sua colonização por invertebrados em riachos na região tropical

Abstract

There are few studies in tropical regions exploring the use of leaf breakdown process as a functional tool to assess anthropic disturbance on aquatic ecosystems. We assessed the effects of water pollution due to human activities on the leaf breakdown rate of Picramnia sellowii in streams of the southeastern Brazil. The experiment was carried out for 60 days in three reference streams and three streams impaired by organic pollution and absente of riparian vegetation. Three litter bags were incubated in each stream containing 3 ± 0.05 g of P. sellowii leaves. The reference streams presented higher values of dissolved oxygen and lower values of nutrients, turbidity, electrical conductivity, total impermeable area and water temperature. The leaf breakdown rate (k) differed significantly between the reference (k = 0.014 ± 0.003 d-1) and impaired streams (k = 0.005 ± 0.001 d-1). The leaves incubated in the reference streams contained greater fungal biomass (measured as ergosterol concentration) and abundance of invertebrates, as well as greater presence of shredders, with k values being related to the biomass of these organisms. Overall, there were clear differences between the leaf mass loss in the reference and impaired streams. These results reinforce the negative effect of urbanization on leaf breakdown and fungal and shredder biomass. In the second experiment were performed withdrawn after 7, 15, 30, 60, 90 and 120 days, in three backwaters and three rapids only in streams references. The main results were: at the end of the experiment remained 16.63% (backwaters) and 10.30% (rapids) of dry mass, which differed only between days of the experiment and not between mesohabitats and was influenced by fungal biomass; there was an increase in biomass of these microorganisms on day 90, differing only from the days of the experiment and being influenced by temperature and O2; the abundance of invertebrates was higher in rapids and on the 30 th, presenting difference between mesohabitats and between days, and being influenced by temperature, O2 and speed; greater richness was recorded in backwaters and day 60; the family Chironomidae was the most abundant throughout the experiment in both mesohabitats; the abundance and biomass of shredders were low; non-metric multidimensional scaling showed the separation of mesohabitats and initial and final periods of decomposition. Through the second experiment it was observed that the mass loss in the low-order stream ecosystems is more influenced by the biomass of fungi that the biomass of shredders and the velocity of the water. Additionally, we found that differences in the abundance, richness and composition invertebados are influenced by differences between mesohabitats and the succession in the decomposition. These results help to reinforce the importance of plant material of terrestrial origin as an energy source for invertebrates in streams, and the need for preservation of riparian vegetation.