Leaf litter microbiomes

Leaf litter from riparian vegetation is the major energy source supporting food webs of heterotrophic streams. Urbanisation disrupts the composition of riparian vegetation and can impact the functioning of streams. For instance, leaf litter from invasive riparian trees can have a detrimental impact on productivity because they alter the quantity and quality of litter leachates and substrates utilised by basal microorganisms which govern the transfer of litter energy and nutrients to stream food webs. Furthermore, these impacts may be amplified by simultaneous degradation of water quality from urban runoff. To determine the extent to which native litter biofilms are impacted by invasive litter and water quality we incubated unmixed and mixed treatments of Eucalyptus camadulensis (Australian native) and Salix babylonica (Australian invasive) litter in natural and urban streamwater.