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Shredders in Malaysia: abundance and richness are higher in cool upland tropical streams
Citation
Yule, CM and Leong, MY and Liew, KC and Ratnarajah, L and Schmidt, K and Wong, HM, Shredders in Malaysia: abundance and richness are higher in cool upland tropical streams, Journal of the North American Benthological Society, 28, (2) pp. 404-415. ISSN 2331-7272 (2009) [Refereed Article]
Copyright Statement
Copyright 2009 by The North American Benthological Society
Official URL: http://www.freshwater-science.org/Publications/Oth...
Abstract
Stream shredders have been reported as scarce in several tropical areas. This pattern is in
contrast to observations in temperate streams, which support an abundant and diverse shredder fauna. Two
possible explanations for this pattern are that most shredders are adapted to cool conditions and that
temperate riparian vegetation often produces more palatable and more nutritious leaves than do the more
diverse, tropical rainforests. In peninsular Malaysia, most streams flow through lowland dipterocarp forests
that are characterized by strikingly high tree diversity and by many species with tough leathery leaves that
are high in lignin and toxic secondary compounds and low in protein. In contrast, highland streams flow
through montane rain forests and are more similar to temperate streams. We hypothesized that shredder
fauna would be distributed along an altitudinal gradient, with more abundant and diverse assemblages in
highland streams. We sampled leaf litter in 12 sites at altitudes from 55 to 1560 m above sea level. As
expected, highland sites supported higher abundance and diversity of shredders (9–15 species per site) than
did lowland sites (3–8 species per site). Shredder densities were similar among lowland sites, but species
composition was variable. Large snails (Brotia spp.) were the dominant shredders in nonacidic streams in
Taman Negara, but they were absent from acidic streams and from streams elsewhere in peninsular
Malaysia. Shredder biomass was generally high because of the large body size of most species (e.g., crabs,
snails, semiaquatic cockroaches, calamoceratids, and tipulids). Large mouthparts might allow these species
to shred tough leaves efficiently, and large body size might enable them to tolerate a wide variety of toxic
secondary compounds. Our results suggest that shredder diversity might depend on elevation, water
temperature, characteristics of the riparian vegetation along altitudinal gradients, and variation in water
chemistry at local scales.
Item Details
Item Type: | Refereed Article |
---|---|
Keywords: | tropics, macroinvertebrate shredders, forested headwater streams, dipterocarp forests |
Research Division: | Biological Sciences |
Research Group: | Ecology |
Research Field: | Freshwater ecology |
Objective Division: | Expanding Knowledge |
Objective Group: | Expanding knowledge |
Objective Field: | Expanding knowledge in the biological sciences |
UTAS Author: | Ratnarajah, L (Ms Lavenia Ratnarajah) |
ID Code: | 114377 |
Year Published: | 2009 |
Deposited By: | CRC-Antarctic Climate & Ecosystems |
Deposited On: | 2017-02-14 |
Last Modified: | 2017-05-11 |
Downloads: | 0 |
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