2023 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Conference
March 5-7, 2023 • Cincinnati, OH
5/26/2021 | 8:30 AM - 10:30 AM | RIPARIAN VEGETATION IS THOUGH, WITH MANY CHEMICAL DEFENSES AND LOW NUTRIENTS ALONG A NEOTROPICAL ALTITUDE GRADIENT | Virtual Platform
RIPARIAN VEGETATION IS THOUGH, WITH MANY CHEMICAL DEFENSES AND LOW NUTRIENTS ALONG A NEOTROPICAL ALTITUDE GRADIENT
Tropical riparian vegetation seems to be poor on nutrients and has a great amount of chemical and physical defenses. Several studies propose that tropical riparian vegetation at higher altitudes would have traits more similar to temperate riparian vegetation, becoming a better food source for aquatic shredders. Here, we assessed traits of chemical and physical defenses and nutrient content of 70 neotropical plant species along an altitudinal gradient. We expected a negative relationship between chemical and physical defenses and altitude, while a positive relationship between nutrient content and altitude. We sampled fresh shed leaf in 5 streams along an altitudinal gradient from 160- 2000 masl, and measured % P, %N, %Phenols, % Tannin, % Lignin, and % Cellulose. Results show a high variation among the 70 tested species. The dominance of high chemical and physical defenses among all sites, independently of altitude. The prevalence of low-quality leaf litter suggests that other factors such as water temperature would explain the higher diversity of shredders observed at high altitudes in tropical streams.
- Tropical streams and lakes
- Organic matter
- Aquatic–terrestrial biodiversity
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Presenters/Authors
Pavel Garcia
(), Organismal Biology, Ecology and Evolution Program, University of Montana, pavel.garciasoto@umontana.edu;
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Robert O. Hall
(), Flathead Lake Biological Station, University of Montana, bob.hall@flbs.umt.edu;
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