Multiple Trophic Levels of a Forest Stream Linked to Terrestrial Litter Inputs. Wallace, J. B. Science, 1997.
Multiple Trophic Levels of a Forest Stream Linked to Terrestrial Litter Inputs [pdf]Paper  abstract   bibtex   
The importance of terrestrial-aquatic linkages was evaluated by a large scale, 3-year exclusion of terrestrial leaf litter inputs to a forest stream. Exclusion of leaf litter has a strong bottom-up effect that propagates through detritivores to predators. Most invertebrate taxa in the predominant habitat declined in either abundance, biomass, or both, compared to taxa in a nearby reference stream. However, fauna in moss habitats changed little, indicating different food webs exist in regions of different geomorphology. This study is the first to demonstrate ecosystem-level consequences of excluding detrital inputs to an ecosystem and has implications for watershed and riparian zone management.

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