Exotic vs. native: global and urban investigations of leaf litter decay in streams

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dc.contributor.authorKennedy, Kimberly Theresa May
dc.contributor.supervisorEl-Sabaawi, Rana
dc.date.accessioned2016-08-30T20:03:26Z
dc.date.copyright2016en_US
dc.date.issued2016-08-30
dc.degree.departmentDepartment of Biologyen_US
dc.degree.levelMaster of Science M.Sc.en_US
dc.description.abstractExotic species alter the streamside plant community by changing the resources available to the stream food web, causing cascading changes throughout the entire aquatic ecosystem. To better understand the impacts of exotic litter species on stream communities, investigations were made at global and local levels. A meta-analysis was performed to understand which environmental and litter quality factors impact native and exotic litter decay rates on the global scale. It was found that exotic species are likely to decay faster than native species at larger mesh sizes, and in warm temperature environments because high quality exotic leaves have a lower C:N ratio than native leaves. An urban litter decay experiment in Victoria, B.C. streams contrasting Alnus rubra, Salix sitchensis, Hedera sp., Rubus armeniacus and plastic trash found that trash decays more slowly than leaf litter, but leaf species all decay at the same rate, and stream invertebrates colonize all litter types equally. Significant differences in litter decay rates and invertebrate community alpha and Shannon diversities were also observed across the four different streams. The more that is learned about the impacts of exotic leaf litter, the better we are able to respond to keep streams as healthy and as biodiverse as possible.en_US
dc.description.embargo2018-08-10
dc.description.proquestcode0329en_US
dc.description.proquestcode0793en_US
dc.description.proquestemailkimkenn@uvic.caen_US
dc.description.scholarlevelGraduateen_US
dc.identifier.bibliographicCitationPerreault, K. 2009. The effect of population density on dispersal and settlement in armadillidium vulgare. Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops, B.C.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1828/7504
dc.languageEnglisheng
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.rightsAvailable to the World Wide Weben_US
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.5/ca/*
dc.subjectLeaf decayen_US
dc.subjectInvasive speciesen_US
dc.subjectMeta-analysisen_US
dc.subjectHedera helixen_US
dc.subjectRubus armeniacusen_US
dc.subjectSalix sitchensisen_US
dc.subjectAlnus rubraen_US
dc.subjectUrban streamsen_US
dc.subjectPlastic decayen_US
dc.subjectaquatic invertebratesen_US
dc.subjectC:Nen_US
dc.subjectC:Pen_US
dc.subjectleaf toughnessen_US
dc.subjectleaf mass areaen_US
dc.subjectstream temperatureen_US
dc.titleExotic vs. native: global and urban investigations of leaf litter decay in streamsen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US

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