@Article{RodriguezPerez_etal2018,
author="Rodr{\'i}guez P{\'e}rez, H.
and Borrel, G.
and Leroy, C.
and Carrias, J.-F.
and Corbara, B.
and Srivastava, D.S.
and C{\'e}r{\'e}ghino, R.",
title="Simulated drought regimes reveal community resilience and hydrological thresholds for altered decomposition",
journal="Oecologia",
year="2018",
volume="187",
number="1",
pages="267--279",
abstract="Future climate scenarios forecast a 10--50\% decline in rainfall in Eastern Amazonia. Altered precipitation patterns may change important ecosystem functions like decomposition through either changes in physical and chemical processes or shifts in the activity and/or composition of species. We experimentally manipulated hydroperiods (length of wet:dry cycles) in a tank bromeliad ecosystem to examine impacts on leaf litter decomposition. Gross loss of litter mass over 112~days was greatest in continuously submersed litter, lowest in continuously dry litter, and intermediate over a range of hydroperiods ranging from eight cycles of 7 wet:7 dry days to one cycle of 56 wet:56 dry days. The resilience of litter mass loss to hydroperiod length is due to a shift from biologically assisted decomposition (mostly microbial) at short wet:dry hydroperiods to physicochemical release of dissolved organic matter at longer wet:dry hydroperiods. Biologically assisted decomposition was maximized at wet:dry hydroperiods falling within the range of ambient conditions (12--22 consecutive dry days) but then declined under prolonged wet:dry hydroperiods (28 and 56 dry days. Fungal:bacterial ratios showed a similar pattern as biologically assisted decomposition to hydroperiod length. Our results suggest that microbial communities confer functional resilience to altered hydroperiod in tank bromeliad ecosystems. We predict a substantial decrease in biological activity relevant to decomposition under climate scenarios that increase consecutive dry days by 1.6- to 3.2-fold in our study area, whereas decreased frequency of dry periods will tend to increase the physicochemical component of decomposition.",
optnote="exported from refbase (http://php.ecofog.gf/refbase/show.php?record=850), last updated on Fri, 11 Jan 2019 15:23:34 -0300",
issn="1432-1939",
doi="10.1007/s00442-018-4123-5",
opturl="https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-018-4123-5"
}