Leaf litter colonization by invertebrates analyzed through a manipulative experiment

The dynamic of the leaf litter input and process was studied through a sequence of manipulative experiments performed in a tropical stream (southeastern Brazil). This study was developed as a PhD thesis (EM Carvalho) and part of the results were already published, including the analysis of spatial and seasonal variation of litter input, litter mass loss and invertebrate diet. The dataset showed here represents the abundance of invertebrates colonizing the leaf litter, discriminated by taxa and by treatment. Four variables were tested: season (dry and wet), canopy cover (area with and without riparian vegetation), plant type (one native arboreal plant and one invasive herbaceous plant) and leaf condition (green, non-conditioned leaves and preconditioned leaves).