Methods to Study Litter Decomposition: A Practical Guide

✍ Scribed by Felix Bärlocher, Mark O. Gessner, Manuel A.S. Graça

• Publisher: Springer International Publishing;Springer
• Year: 2020
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 581
• Edition: 2nd ed.
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

This edited volume is an extensive collection of methods for investigating plant litter dynamics in ecosystems. Particular emphasis is placed on litter decomposition in streams and rivers. The presented methods range from analyses of chemical and physical litter properties to the taxonomic and functional characterization of microbial decomposers, both fungi and bacteria, assessments of litter-consuming invertebrates, and procedures to determine litter dynamics at the stream ecosystem level. Several chapters addressing general topics of data analysis are also included.

This second edition of the book has been greatly expanded. Its now 63 chapters cover both well-established and recently elaborated techniques, some of which have not yet been applied to decomposing litter in streams. Modern molecular techniques ranging from next-generation sequencing to proteomics receive special attention among the 20 chapters that are entirely new. Numerous methods on characterizing litter consumers have also been added to fill an evident gap of the first edition. However, the basic original concept and all of the previous chapters have been retained, although most of them have been thoroughly updated.

Typical contributions provide step-by-step protocols that are preceded by brief reviews of the ecological significance and the principles underlying the method. Where available, short compilations of published data have been added in overview tables to provide background information on the range of results to expect. Useful hints, a discussion of potential weaknesses, and key references are provided at the end. Hands-on material useful to implement several of the presented methods (e.g. computer code, calculation sheets) is available online.

The book is written for students embarking on studies of plant litter dynamics and for established researchers wishing to expand the scope of their methodological toolbox to study litter decomposition and the microbial decomposers and invertebrates involved in the process. The primary intended audience is aquatic ecologists, since many of the methods presented in the book focus on streams and stream organisms. However, the great majority of the protocols can be easily adapted or even directly applied to coastal and terrestrial ecosystems. Consequently, they should be of equal interest to scientists investigating plant litter dynamics in habitats such as mangroves and salt-marshes, terrestrial grasslands and forests.

✦ Table of Contents

Front Matter ....Pages i-xxv
Front Matter ....Pages 1-1
Litter Input (Arturo Elosegi, Jesús Pozo)....Pages 3-12
Leaf Retention (Arturo Elosegi)....Pages 13-20
Manipulating Litter Retention in Streams (Michael Dobson)....Pages 21-27
Coarse Benthic Organic Matter (Jesús Pozo, Arturo Elosegi)....Pages 29-35
Leaching (Felix Bärlocher)....Pages 37-41
Leaf Mass Loss Estimated by the Litter Bag Technique (Felix Bärlocher)....Pages 43-51
Determining Litter Mass Loss by the Plant Tagging Approach (Kevin A. Kuehn, Mark O. Gessner)....Pages 53-59
Wood Decomposition (Arturo Elosegi, Maite Arroita, Libe Solagaistua)....Pages 61-69
Decomposition of Fine Particulate Organic Matter (Yoshimura Chihiro)....Pages 71-78
Coarse Particulate Organic Matter Budgets (Jesús Pozo, Jon Molinero)....Pages 79-88
Front Matter ....Pages 89-89
Total Phosphorus, Nitrogen and Carbon in Leaf Litter (Mogens R. Flindt, Ana I. Lillebø, Javier Pérez, Verónica Ferreira)....Pages 91-105
Total Protein (Mark O. Baerlocher)....Pages 107-114
Free Amino Acids (Shawn D. Mansfield, Mark O. Baerlocher)....Pages 115-120
Determination of Total Carbohydrates (Shawn D. Mansfield)....Pages 121-129
Determination of Soluble Carbohydrates (Letitia Da Ros, Faride Unda, Shawn D. Mansfield)....Pages 131-137
Total Lipids (Mark O. Gessner, Paul T. M. Neumann)....Pages 139-145
Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids in Decomposing Leaf Litter (Eric von Elert)....Pages 147-155
Total Phenolics (Felix Bärlocher, Manuel A. S. Graça)....Pages 157-161
Radial Diffusion Assay for Tannins (Manuel A. S. Graça, Felix Bärlocher)....Pages 163-167
Acid Butanol Assay to Determine Bulk Concentrations of Condensed Tannins (Mark O. Gessner, Daniel Steiner)....Pages 169-177
Lignin and Cellulose (Mark O. Gessner)....Pages 179-185
Physical Litter Properties: Leaf Toughness and Tensile Strength (Manuel A. S. Graça, Martin Zimmer)....Pages 187-193
Front Matter ....Pages 195-195
Techniques for Handling Ingoldian Fungi (Enrique Descals)....Pages 197-209
Maintenance of Aquatic Hyphomycete Cultures (Ludmila Marvanová)....Pages 211-222
An Illustrated Key to the Common Temperate Species of Aquatic Hyphomycetes (Vladislav Gulis, Ludmila Marvanová, Enrique Descals)....Pages 223-239
Sporulation by Aquatic Hyphomycetes (Felix Bärlocher)....Pages 241-245
Ergosterol as a Measure of Fungal Biomass (Mark O. Gessner)....Pages 247-255
Fungal Growth Rates and Production (K. Suberkropp, M. O. Gessner, K. A. Kuehn)....Pages 257-264
Bacterial Abundance and Biomass Determination in Plant Litter by Epifluorescence Microscopy (Nanna Buesing, Mark O. Gessner)....Pages 265-273
Growth and Production of Litter-Associated Bacteria (Nanna Buesing, Mark O. Gessner, Kevin A. Kuehn)....Pages 275-284
Isolation of Cellulose-Degrading Bacteria (Jürgen Marxsen)....Pages 285-290
ATP as a Measure of Microbial Biomass (Manuela Abelho)....Pages 291-299
Respiration of Litter-Associated Microbes and Invertebrates (Manuel A. S. Graça, Manuela Abelho)....Pages 301-308
Front Matter ....Pages 309-309
Terminal Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (T-RFLP) to Estimate Fungal Diversity (Liliya G. Nikolcheva, Felix Bärlocher)....Pages 311-318
Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis (DGGE) to Estimate Fungal Diversity (Liliya G. Nikolcheva, Felix Bärlocher)....Pages 319-326
Quantitative Real-Time PCR (qPCR) to Estimate Molecular Fungal Abundance (Christiane Baschien, Steffen C. Carl)....Pages 327-337
Metabarcoding of Litter-Associated Fungi and Bacteria (Sofia Duarte, Christian Wurzbacher, Sahadevan Seena)....Pages 339-346
Identifying Active Members of Litter Fungal Communities by Precursor rRNA (Martina àtursová, Petr Baldrian)....Pages 347-353
Gene Expression Analysis of Litter-Associated Fungi Using RNA-Seq (Elizabeth C. Bourne, Paul R. Johnston, Elisabeth Funke, Michael T. Monaghan)....Pages 355-367
Metaproteomics of Litter-Associated Fungi (Katharina M. Keiblinger, Katharina Riedel)....Pages 369-383
Front Matter ....Pages 385-385
Extracellular Fungal Hydrolytic Enzyme Activity (Shawn D. Mansfield)....Pages 387-395
Cellulases (Martin Zimmer)....Pages 397-403
Viscosimetric Determination of Endocellulase Activity (Björn Hendel, Jürgen Marxsen)....Pages 405-410
Fluorometric Determination of the Activity of β-Glucosidase and Other Extracellular Hydrolytic Enzymes (Björn Hendel, Jürgen Marxsen)....Pages 411-418
Pectin-Degrading Enzymes: Polygalacturonase and Pectin Lyase (Keller Suberkropp)....Pages 419-424
Lignin-Degrading Enzymes: Phenoloxidase and Peroxidase (Björn Hendel, Robert L. Sinsabaugh, Jürgen Marxsen)....Pages 425-431
Phenol Oxidation (Martin Zimmer)....Pages 433-437
Proteinase Activity: Azocoll and Thin-Layer Enzyme Assay (Manuel A. S. Graça, Felix Bärlocher)....Pages 439-444
Front Matter ....Pages 445-445
Processing of Aquatic Invertebrates Colonizing Decomposing Litter (John S. Richardson)....Pages 447-454
Identifying Stream Invertebrates as Plant Litter Consumers (Luz Boyero, Richard G. Pearson, Ricardo J. Albariño, Marcos Callisto, Francisco Correa-Araneda, Andrea C. Encalada et al.)....Pages 455-464
Shredder Feeding and Growth Rates (Manuel A. S. Graça, José M. González)....Pages 465-473
Feeding Preferences (Cristina Canhoto, Manuel A. S. Graça, Felix Bärlocher)....Pages 475-481
Energy Budget of Shredders (Manuel A. S. Graça)....Pages 483-491
The Role of Shredders in Litter Dynamics at Stream-Scale (José M. González, Manuel A. S. Graça)....Pages 493-499
Front Matter ....Pages 501-501
Manipulation of Leaf Litter Stoichiometry (Julio Arce-Funck, Vincent Felten, Michael Danger)....Pages 503-511
Isotopic Labelling of Leaf Litter Nitrogen (Bernd Zeller, Severine Bienaimé, Etienne Dambrine)....Pages 513-518
Decomposition and Consumption Tablets (DECOTABs) (Gea H. Van der Lee, Ellard R. Hunting, J. Arie Vonk, Michiel H. S. Kraak)....Pages 519-525
Inoculation of Leaf Litter with Aquatic Hyphomycetes (Eric Chauvet)....Pages 527-531
Front Matter ....Pages 533-533
A Primer for Statistical Analysis (Felix Bärlocher)....Pages 535-552
Determining Temperature-Normalized Decomposition Rates (Mark O. Gessner, Frank Peeters)....Pages 553-560
Biodiversity Analyses (Felix Bärlocher)....Pages 561-572
A Bioinformatics Primer for the Analysis of Illumina MiSeq Data of Litter-Associated Fungi and Bacteria (Sahadevan Seena, Sofia Duarte, Christian Wurzbacher)....Pages 573-582
A Primer for Meta-Analysis (Verónica Ferreira, Felix Bärlocher)....Pages 583-598
Back Matter ....Pages 599-604

✦ Subjects

Life Sciences; Ecosystems; Microbial Ecology; Freshwater & Marine Ecology; Biogeosciences; Biodiversity; Biological Techniques