2022 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Virtual Conference

March 13 - 15, 2022

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6/08/2017  |   11:00 AM - 11:15 AM   |  EFFECTS OF TEMPERATURE ON ACTIVITY OF AQUATIC FUNGI AND LEAF LITTER DECOMPOSITION   |  305B

EFFECTS OF TEMPERATURE ON ACTIVITY OF AQUATIC FUNGI AND LEAF LITTER DECOMPOSITION

Climate change is expected to affect rates of heterotrophic activity and carbon dynamics in streams. The Metabolic Theory of Ecology (MTE) can guide predictions of metabolic activity of organisms with increased temperature; however, multiple factors can cause deviations from simple MTE expectations. We assessed the temperature sensitivity of aquatic hyphomycetes and leaf litter decomposition and estimated the activation energy (E) of several fungi-mediated processes across different temperature intervals. We followed fungal biomass accrual, sporulation, respiration, enzymatic activity and litter decomposition in laboratory microcosms simulating stream conditions. We found that fungal parameters and decomposition rates often do not follow simple MTE predictions, i.e. estimates of E varied depending on temperature interval. We observed much greater temperature sensitivity of microbial parameters at 5-10 C than at higher temperatures (15-20 C). Also, at low temperatures, estimates of E for parameters of fungal activity and decomposition rate (up to 1.46 and 0.96 eV, respectively) often greatly exceeded canonical estimates for respiration (~0.65 eV). These trends may have important implications for stream ecosystems under climate change scenarios, since bulk leaf litter inputs and peak microbial activity coincide with the coldest season (autumn-winter) in temperate streams.

  • C31 Organic Matter Processing
  • C20 Climate Change
  • C04 Microbial Ecology

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Presenters/Authors

Vlad Gulis (), Coastal Carolina University, vgulis@coastal.edu;


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Kyra Harrington (), Coastal Carolina University, klharring@g.coastal.edu;


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Jonathan P. Benstead (), The University of Alabama, jbenstead@ua.edu;


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Amy D. Rosemond (), University of Georgia, rosemond@uga.edu;


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