Riparian forests shape trophic interactions in detrital stream food webs

Freshwater and terrestrial biodiversity are linked through spatial resource flows. Key examples are detrital subsidies from the riparian vegetation that form the base of food webs in small streams. Despite the central role of detritivores in these food webs, the consequences of altered riparian vegetation type and resource availability on their trophic strategies are less known. Therefore, we experimentally tested the direct and indirect effects of riparian vegetation type (i.e., riparian forests present vs. absent) on trophic interactions and dietary imbalances of aquatic detritivores. To characterize trophic strategies, we used stoichiometric and isotopic differences between consumers and resources as functional measures of trophic link strength in leaf litter bags naturally colonised by stream decomposers and detritivores. Our results show that an absence of riparian forests affected stoichiometric and isotopic properties in stream detrital food webs. Where local riparian forests wer..., , , # Riparian forests shape trophic interactions in detrital stream food webs

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.8pk0p2nv9](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.8pk0p2nv9)

## Description of the data and file structure

The three datasets used for this study include identifiers, treatments, measurements of stoichiometry, and stable isotopes of leaf litter and macroinvertebrate consumers, as well as fungal biomass, and also some information on the local macroinvertebrate community composition.

dat.erg: Data on resources including fungal biomass, stoichiometry, and stable isotopes
dat.all: Data on resources and consumers (shredders), stoichiometry, and stable isotopes
dat.tot: Taxalist of all animals found in the experimental units

Identifiers:

* \"Sample_ID\": shared identifier
* \"Site\": study site identifier (combination between stream and vegetation)
* \"Stream\": stream site identifier (within each region, four streams)
* \"Region\": regional site identifier (two regions corresponding to the two Swis...