What will happen to ecosystems if species continue to go extinct at the high rates seen today? Although ecosystems are often threatened by a myriad of physical or chemical stressors, recent evidence has suggested that the loss of species may have impacts on the functions and services of ecosystems that equal or exceed other major environmental disturbances. The underlying causes that link species diversity to ecosystem functioning include species niche complementarity, facilitative interactions, or selection effects, which cause process rates to be enhanced in more diverse communities. Interference competition, antagonistic interactions, or negative selection effects may otherwise reduce the efficiency or resource processing in diverse communities. While several of these mechanisms have been investigated in controlled experiments, there is an urgent need to understand how species diversity affects ecosystem functioning in nature, where variability of both biotic and abiotic factors is usually high. Species functional traits provide an important conceptual link between the effects of disturbances on community composition and diversity, and their ultimate outcomes for ecosystem functioning. Within this framework, I investigated relationships between the decomposition of leaf litter, a fundamental ecosystem process in stream ecosystems, and the composition and diversity of functional traits within the detritivore feeding guild. These include traits related to species habitat and resource preferences, phenology, and size. I focused on disentangling the biotic and abiotic drivers, including functional diversity, regulating ecosystem functioning in streams in a series of field experiments that captured real-world environmental gradients. Leaf decomposition rates were assessed using litter-bags of 0.5 and 10 mm opening size which allow the quantification of microbial and invertebrate + microbial contributions, respectively, to litter decomposition. I also used PVC chambers where leaf litter and a fixed number of invertebrate detritivores were enclosed in the field for a set time-period. The chemical characterisation of stream detritivores and leaf litter, by means of their nitrogen, phosphorus, and carbon concentration, was used to investigate how stoichiometric imbalance between detritivores and leaf litter may affect consumer growth and resource consumption. I found that the diversity and composition of functional traits within the stream detritivore feeding guild sometimes had effects on ecosystem functioning as strong as those of other major biotic factors (e.g. detritivore density and biomass), and abiotic factors (e.g. habitat complexity and agricultural stressors). However, the occurrence of diversity-functioning relationships was patchy in space and time, highlighting ongoing challenges in predicting the role of diversity a priori. The stoichiometric imbalance between consumers and resource was also identified as an important driver of functioning, affecting consumer growth rates, but not leaf decomposition rates. Overall, these results shed light on the understanding of species functional diversity effect on ecosystems, and indicate that the shifts in the functional diversity and composition of consumer guilds can have important outcomes for the functioning of stream ecosystems.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T19:31:54Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 3596.pdf: 1182246 bytes, checksum: 313badd826fcb755887e3f7becfbf99f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-03-04 / Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais / Aiming to answer the question: preserved streams can sustain higher beta diversity than degraded streams? We estimated beta diversity of preserved and degraded streams during the rainy season of 2009 in pool and riffle areas using as substrate bags of leaf litter of tree species Talauma ovata. We analyzed the similarity in taxonomic composition of different mesohabitats using different indices of similarity (Sørensen, Morisita-Horn and Horn) and their corresponding estimators of diversity. Our study showed higher values of beta diversity in streams degraded when estimated by the similarity indices of Sørensen and Morisita-Horn. On the other hand the Horn index indicated no differences between the streams. This greater differentiation in faunistic composition between the different streams in degraded mesohabitats seems to be related to degradation of the riparian zone which favored the largest effect of hydrological disturbance due to increased volume of water especially in areas of pool resulting in elimination of taxa and increase local the dominance of more tolerant taxa, affecting beta diversity. This study paves the way for new understandings of the effects of degradation of riparian zones in streams, because the comparison between habitats within a given stream may provide a basis to assess their state of degradation, making possible new approaches to biomonitoring. / Com o objetivo de responder a pergunta: Córregos preservados podem sustentar uma maior diversidade beta que córregos degradados? Estimamos a diversidade beta de córregos preservados e degradados durante a estação chuvosa de 2009 em áreas de remanso e corredeira utilizando como substrato sacos de detritos foliares da espécie arbórea Talauma ovata. Analisamos a similaridade na composição taxonômica dos diferentes mesohabitats utilizando diferentes índices de similaridade (Sørensen, Morisita-Horn e Horn) e seus estimadores de diversidade correspondentes. Nosso estudo mostrou maiores valores de diversidade beta nos córregos degradados quando estimado pelos índices de similaridade de Sørensen e Morisita-Horn. Já o índice de Horn não indicou diferenças entre os córregos. Esta maior diferenciação na composição faunística entre os diferentes mesohabitats nos córregos degradados parece estar relacionada à degradação da zona ripária que favoreceu o maior efeito das perturbações hidrológicas devido ao maior volume de água especialmente nas áreas de remanso, resultando em eliminação local de táxons e aumento na dominância de táxons mais tolerantes, afetando a diversidade beta. Este estudo abre caminho para novas perspectivas de compreensão dos efeitos da degradação das zonas ripárias em córregos, pois a comparação entre habitats dentro de um dado córrego pode fornecer subsídios para avaliar seu estado de degradação, possibilitando novas abordagens de biomonitoramento.