Leaf litter decomposition, microbial respiration and community succession under variable dissolved organic carbon availability in boreal streams
- 1Umea University
Abstract
Boreal forested streams receive substantial inputs of terrestrial carbon (C) from riparian vegetation in the form of leaf litter, which is processed by litter-associated microorganisms. In addition to these leaf-litter C inputs, boreal streams also receive significant concentrations of dissolved organic carbon (DOC), which may represent an alternative major resource pool for litter-associated microorganisms. As leaf litter quality decreases over the process of decomposition, DOC may increasingly become a more suitable C source for the microbial communities. We investigated how DOC availability, litter type, and microbial succession influenced respiration and decomposition. Alder, birch, and spruce litter were incubated for 65 days in 12 outdoor experimental channels supplied with natural boreal stream water. Higher time-adjusted DOC concentrations were associated with higher respiration and lower relative mass remaining, whereas DOC flux received less support. Respiration and mass loss followed litter-specific trajectories, with birch showing a respiration peak that was not matched by proportional mass loss. Prokaryotic and eukaryotic communities differed among litter types and changed through time but explained process variation only for specific litter types and responses. Our results suggest that DOC can sustain litter-associated microbial activity and partly decouple respiration from litter decomposition, thereby affecting boreal stream C processing.
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BibTeX
@misc{jimel2026leaf,
title = {{Leaf litter decomposition, microbial respiration and community succession under variable dissolved organic carbon availability in boreal streams}},
author = {M. Jimel and L. Kuglerova and E. Capo and J. M. Sarneel and M. Jonsson},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.64898/2026.09.25.754356},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.25.754356v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Leaf litter decomposition, microbial respiration and community succession under variable dissolved organic carbon availability in boreal streams
AU - M. Jimel
AU - L. Kuglerova
AU - E. Capo
AU - J. M. Sarneel
AU - M. Jonsson
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/25
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.09.25.754356
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.25.754356v1
AB - Boreal forested streams receive substantial inputs of terrestrial carbon (C) from riparian vegetation in the form of leaf litter, which is processed by litter-associated microorganisms. In addition to these leaf-litter C inputs, boreal streams also receive significant concentrations of dissolved organic carbon (DOC), which may represent an alternative major resource pool for litter-associated microorganisms. As leaf litter quality decreases over the process of decomposition, DOC may increasingly become a more suitable C source for the microbial communities. We investigated how DOC availability, litter type, and microbial succession influenced respiration and decomposition. Alder, birch, and spruce litter were incubated for 65 days in 12 outdoor experimental channels supplied with natural boreal stream water. Higher time-adjusted DOC concentrations were associated with higher respiration and lower relative mass remaining, whereas DOC flux received less support. Respiration and mass loss followed litter-specific trajectories, with birch showing a respiration peak that was not matched by proportional mass loss. Prokaryotic and eukaryotic communities differed among litter types and changed through time but explained process variation only for specific litter types and responses. Our results suggest that DOC can sustain litter-associated microbial activity and partly decouple respiration from litter decomposition, thereby affecting boreal stream C processing.
ER -