2023 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Conference

March 5-7, 2023 • Cincinnati, OH

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5/21/2019 | 11:00 AM - 11:15 AM | PLANT SEX INFLUENCES LEAF LITTER CHEMISTRY, DECOMPOSITION, AND HERBIVORE-INDUCED SUMMER LITTER INPUTS TO STREAMS AT MOUNT ST. HELENS, WA, USA | 151 ABC

PLANT SEX INFLUENCES LEAF LITTER CHEMISTRY, DECOMPOSITION, AND HERBIVORE-INDUCED SUMMER LITTER INPUTS TO STREAMS AT MOUNT ST. HELENS, WA, USA

Research has shown that plant genetics can influence ecosystem processes, but one genetic difference that has received little study is sex in dioecious plants. Since headwater streams are reliant on carbon and nutrients from leaf litter fall, plant sex differences in litter chemistry may influence stream function. Sitka willow (Salix sitchensis) at Mount St. Helens are heavily infested with a stem-boring weevil that causes summer branch die-back and leaf drop. Willow is dioecious with female plants tending to grow closer to stream banks and showing higher weevil attack rates. In combination, these two factors lead to increased summer litter inputs from female willow trees. Female leaf litter is significantly elevated in condensed tannin concentrations which leads to slower decomposition rates. In all of these ways, female trees may provide more sustained carbon and nutrient resources to microbes and invertebrates in the early successional streams at Mount St. Helens. Dioecy is a relatively common trait in riparian habitats, and it is possible that plant sex plays a far more interesting role in structuring communities and ecosystem processes than we previously understood.

Decomposition
Genetics
Organic Matter

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Presenters/Authors

Carri LeRoy (), Evergreen State College, leroyc@evergreen.edu;