Positive Feedback on Climate Warming by Stream Microbial Decomposers Indicated by a Global Space-For-Time Substitution Study

Javier Pérez^{1

2}, Luz Boyero^{1

3}, Richard G Pearson⁴, Mark O Gessner^{5

6}, Alan Tonin⁷, Naiara López-Rojo^{1

8

9}, Juan Rubio-Ríos², Francisco Correa-Araneda¹⁰, Alberto Alonso¹, Aydeé Cornejo^{11

12}, Ricardo J Albariño¹³, Sankarappan Anbalagan¹⁴, Leon A Barmuta¹⁵, Andrew J Boulton¹⁶, Francis J Burdon¹⁷, Adriano Caliman¹⁸, Marcos Callisto¹⁹, Ian C Campbell²⁰, Bradley J Cardinale²¹, Luciana S Carneiro¹⁸, J Jesús Casas², Ana M Chará-Serna^{22

23}, Eric Chauvet²⁴, Checo Colón-Gaud²⁵, Aaron M Davis⁴, Elvira de Eyto²⁶, Monika Degebrodt⁵, María E Díaz²⁷, Michael M Douglas²⁸, Andrea C Encalada²⁹, Ricardo Figueroa³⁰, Alexander S Flecker³¹, Tadeusz Fleituch³², André Frainer^{33

34}, Erica A García³⁵, Gabriela García¹¹, Pavel E García^{36

37}, Paul S Giller³⁸, Jesús E Gómez³⁹, Jose F Gonçalves Jr⁴⁰, Manuel A S Graça⁴¹, Robert O Hall Jr⁴², Neusa Hamada⁴³, Luiz U Hepp⁴⁴, Cang Hui^{45

46}, Daichi Imazawa⁴⁷, Tomoya Iwata⁴⁸, Edson S A Junior⁴⁹, Andrea Landeira-Dabarca^{20

41}, María Leal⁵⁰, Kaisa Lehosmaa⁵¹, Charles M M'Erimba⁵², Richard Marchant⁵³, Renato T Martins⁴³, Frank O Masese⁵⁴, Megan Maul²¹, Brendan G McKie¹⁷, Adriana O Medeiros⁴⁹, Jen A Middleton²⁸, Timo Muotka⁵¹, Junjiro N Negishi⁵⁵, Alonso Ramírez⁵⁶, Renan S Rezende⁵⁷, John S Richardson⁵⁸, José Rincón⁵⁰, Claudia Serrano²⁰, Angela R Shaffer²⁵, Fran Sheldon⁵⁹, Christopher M Swan⁶⁰, Nathalie S D Tenkiano⁶¹, Scott D Tiegs⁶², Janine R Tolod⁶³, Michael Vernasky⁵⁹, Elizabeth W Wanderi⁵⁴, Anne Watson¹⁵, Catherine M Yule⁶⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Plant Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Leioa, Spain.
² Department of Biology and Geology and Andalusian Center ENGLOBA, University of Almería (UAL), Almería, Spain.
³ Basque Foundation for Science, IKERBASQUE, Bilbao, Spain.
⁴ Centre for Tropical Water and Aquatic Ecosystem Research (TropWATER), James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia.
⁵ Department of Plankton and Microbial Ecology, Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB), Stechlin, Germany.
⁶ Department of Ecology, Berlin Institute of Technology (TU Berlin), Berlin, Germany.
⁷ Department of Ecology, Institute of Biology, University of Brasília (UnB), Brasilia, Brazil.
⁸ RiverLy Research Unit, National Institute for Agriculture, Food, and Environment (INRAE), CenterLyon-Grenoble Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Villeurbanne, France.
⁹ Laboratoire d'Ecologie Alpine, Université Grenoble Alpes, Université Savoie Mt-Blanc, CNRS, LECA, Grenoble, France.
¹⁰ Unidad de Cambio Climático y Medio Ambiente (UCCMA), Instituto Iberoamericano de Desarrollo Sostenible (IIDS), Universidad Autónoma de Chile, Temuco, Chile.
¹¹ Ecology and Aquatic Ecotoxicology Laboratory, Research Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Diseases, Gorgas Memorial Institute of Health Studies, Divisa, Panama.
¹² National Research System of Panama, Panama.
¹³ INIBIOMA (Universidad Nacional del Comahue-CONICET), Bariloche, Argentina.
¹⁴ Government Arts College, Madurai, India.
¹⁵ Biological Sciences, School of Natural Sciences, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.
¹⁶ School of Environmental and Rural Science, University of New England, Armidale, New South Wales, Australia.
¹⁷ Department of Aquatic Sciences & Assessment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden.
¹⁸ Department of Ecology, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Brazil.
¹⁹ Laboratório de Ecologia de Bentos, Departamento de Genética, Ecologia e Evolução, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
²⁰ Rhithroecology, Blackburn South, Victoria, Australia.
²¹ Department of Ecosystem Science and Management, Penn State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA.
²² Centro para la Investigación en Sistemas Sostenibles de Producción Agropecuaria (CIPAV), Cali, Colombia.
²³ Illinois River Biological Station, Illinois Natural History Survey, Division of the Prairie Research Institute at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Havana, Illinois, USA.
²⁴ Laboratoire écologie fonctionnelle et environnement, Université de Toulouse CNRS, Toulouse, France.
²⁵ Department of Biology, Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, Georgia, USA.
²⁶ Marine Institute, Newport, Ireland.
²⁷ Centro de Recursos Hídricos para la Agricultura y la Minería (CRHIAM), Universidad de Concepción, Concepción, Chile.
²⁸ School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia, Australia.
²⁹ Instituto BIOSFERA, Colegio de Ciencias Biológicas y Ambientales, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Quito, Ecuador.
³⁰ Facultad de Ciencias Ambientales y Centro EULA-Chile, Universidad de Concepción, Concepción, Chile.
³¹ Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA.
³² Institute of Nature Conservation, Polish Academy of Sciences, Kraków, Poland.
³³ Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA), Fram Centre, Tromsø, Norway.
³⁴ Faculty of Biosciences, Fisheries and Economics, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway.
³⁵ Research Institute for the Environment and Livelihoods, Charles Darwin University, Casuarina, Northern Territory of Australia, Australia.
³⁶ Escuela de Biología, Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala, Guatemala.
³⁷ Organismal Biology, Ecology, & Evolution (OBEE) Program at the University of Montana United State of America, Missoula, Montana, USA.
³⁸ School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University College Cork, National University of Ireland, Dublin, Ireland.
³⁹ Departamento de Ciencias Agroambientales, Universidad de Puerto Rico, Recinto de Mayagüez, Puerto Rico.
⁴⁰ Departamento de Ecologia-IB, Universidade de Brasília, Brasilia, Brazil.
⁴¹ Department of Life Sciences & MARE- Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.
⁴² Flathead Lake Biological Station, University of Montana, Missoula, Montana, USA.
⁴³ Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia-INPA, Coordenação de Biodiversidade-COBIO, Manaus, Brazil.
⁴⁴ Laboratório de Indicadores Ambientais, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul, Três Lagoas, Brazil.
⁴⁵ Department of Mathematical Sciences, Centre for Invasion Biology, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa.
⁴⁶ National Institute for Theoretical and Computational Sciences (NITheCS), African Institute for Mathematical Sciences, Cape Town, South Africa.
⁴⁷ Integrated Graduate School of Medicine, Engineering, and Agricultural Sciences, University of Yamanashi, Yamanashi, Japan.
⁴⁸ Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Yamanashi, Yamanashi, Japan.
⁴⁹ Laboratório de Microbiologia Ambiental, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador, Brazil.
⁵⁰ Laboratorio de Contaminación Acuática y Ecología Fluvial, Departamento de Biología, Facultad Experimental de Ciencias, Universidad del Zulia, Maracaibo, Venezuela.
⁵¹ Department of Ecology and Genetics, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland.
⁵² Egerton University, Egerton, Kenya.
⁵³ Museums Victoria Research Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
⁵⁴ Department of Fisheries & Aquatic Science, University of Eldoret, Eldoret, Kenya.
⁵⁵ Faculty of Environmental Earth Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan.
⁵⁶ Department of Applied Ecology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA.
⁵⁷ Program of Postgraduate in Environmental Science, Communitarian University of Chapecó Region, Chapecó, Brazil.
⁵⁸ Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
⁵⁹ Australian Rivers Institute, Griffith University, Nathan, Queensland, Australia.
⁶⁰ Department of Geography & Environmental Systems, University of Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
⁶¹ Université Julius N'Yerere de Kankan, Kankan, Guinea.
⁶² Department of Biological Sciences, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan, USA.
⁶³ Graduate School of Environmental Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan.
⁶⁴ School of Science, Technology and Engineering, University of the Sunshine Coast, Sippy Downs, Queensland, Australia.

PMID: 40186595
DOI: 10.1111/gcb.70171

Positive Feedback on Climate Warming by Stream Microbial Decomposers Indicated by a Global Space-For-Time Substitution Study

Javier Pérez et al. Glob Chang Biol. 2025 Apr.

. 2025 Apr;31(4):e70171.

doi: 10.1111/gcb.70171.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Plant Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Leioa, Spain.
² Department of Biology and Geology and Andalusian Center ENGLOBA, University of Almería (UAL), Almería, Spain.
³ Basque Foundation for Science, IKERBASQUE, Bilbao, Spain.
⁴ Centre for Tropical Water and Aquatic Ecosystem Research (TropWATER), James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia.
⁵ Department of Plankton and Microbial Ecology, Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB), Stechlin, Germany.
⁶ Department of Ecology, Berlin Institute of Technology (TU Berlin), Berlin, Germany.
⁷ Department of Ecology, Institute of Biology, University of Brasília (UnB), Brasilia, Brazil.
⁸ RiverLy Research Unit, National Institute for Agriculture, Food, and Environment (INRAE), CenterLyon-Grenoble Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Villeurbanne, France.
⁹ Laboratoire d'Ecologie Alpine, Université Grenoble Alpes, Université Savoie Mt-Blanc, CNRS, LECA, Grenoble, France.
¹⁰ Unidad de Cambio Climático y Medio Ambiente (UCCMA), Instituto Iberoamericano de Desarrollo Sostenible (IIDS), Universidad Autónoma de Chile, Temuco, Chile.
¹¹ Ecology and Aquatic Ecotoxicology Laboratory, Research Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Diseases, Gorgas Memorial Institute of Health Studies, Divisa, Panama.
¹² National Research System of Panama, Panama.
¹³ INIBIOMA (Universidad Nacional del Comahue-CONICET), Bariloche, Argentina.
¹⁴ Government Arts College, Madurai, India.
¹⁵ Biological Sciences, School of Natural Sciences, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.
¹⁶ School of Environmental and Rural Science, University of New England, Armidale, New South Wales, Australia.
¹⁷ Department of Aquatic Sciences & Assessment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden.
¹⁸ Department of Ecology, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Brazil.
¹⁹ Laboratório de Ecologia de Bentos, Departamento de Genética, Ecologia e Evolução, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
²⁰ Rhithroecology, Blackburn South, Victoria, Australia.
²¹ Department of Ecosystem Science and Management, Penn State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA.
²² Centro para la Investigación en Sistemas Sostenibles de Producción Agropecuaria (CIPAV), Cali, Colombia.
²³ Illinois River Biological Station, Illinois Natural History Survey, Division of the Prairie Research Institute at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Havana, Illinois, USA.
²⁴ Laboratoire écologie fonctionnelle et environnement, Université de Toulouse CNRS, Toulouse, France.
²⁵ Department of Biology, Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, Georgia, USA.
²⁶ Marine Institute, Newport, Ireland.
²⁷ Centro de Recursos Hídricos para la Agricultura y la Minería (CRHIAM), Universidad de Concepción, Concepción, Chile.
²⁸ School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia, Australia.
²⁹ Instituto BIOSFERA, Colegio de Ciencias Biológicas y Ambientales, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Quito, Ecuador.
³⁰ Facultad de Ciencias Ambientales y Centro EULA-Chile, Universidad de Concepción, Concepción, Chile.
³¹ Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA.
³² Institute of Nature Conservation, Polish Academy of Sciences, Kraków, Poland.
³³ Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA), Fram Centre, Tromsø, Norway.
³⁴ Faculty of Biosciences, Fisheries and Economics, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway.
³⁵ Research Institute for the Environment and Livelihoods, Charles Darwin University, Casuarina, Northern Territory of Australia, Australia.
³⁶ Escuela de Biología, Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala, Guatemala.
³⁷ Organismal Biology, Ecology, & Evolution (OBEE) Program at the University of Montana United State of America, Missoula, Montana, USA.
³⁸ School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University College Cork, National University of Ireland, Dublin, Ireland.
³⁹ Departamento de Ciencias Agroambientales, Universidad de Puerto Rico, Recinto de Mayagüez, Puerto Rico.
⁴⁰ Departamento de Ecologia-IB, Universidade de Brasília, Brasilia, Brazil.
⁴¹ Department of Life Sciences & MARE- Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.
⁴² Flathead Lake Biological Station, University of Montana, Missoula, Montana, USA.
⁴³ Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia-INPA, Coordenação de Biodiversidade-COBIO, Manaus, Brazil.
⁴⁴ Laboratório de Indicadores Ambientais, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul, Três Lagoas, Brazil.
⁴⁵ Department of Mathematical Sciences, Centre for Invasion Biology, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa.
⁴⁶ National Institute for Theoretical and Computational Sciences (NITheCS), African Institute for Mathematical Sciences, Cape Town, South Africa.
⁴⁷ Integrated Graduate School of Medicine, Engineering, and Agricultural Sciences, University of Yamanashi, Yamanashi, Japan.
⁴⁸ Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Yamanashi, Yamanashi, Japan.
⁴⁹ Laboratório de Microbiologia Ambiental, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador, Brazil.
⁵⁰ Laboratorio de Contaminación Acuática y Ecología Fluvial, Departamento de Biología, Facultad Experimental de Ciencias, Universidad del Zulia, Maracaibo, Venezuela.
⁵¹ Department of Ecology and Genetics, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland.
⁵² Egerton University, Egerton, Kenya.
⁵³ Museums Victoria Research Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
⁵⁴ Department of Fisheries & Aquatic Science, University of Eldoret, Eldoret, Kenya.
⁵⁵ Faculty of Environmental Earth Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan.
⁵⁶ Department of Applied Ecology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA.
⁵⁷ Program of Postgraduate in Environmental Science, Communitarian University of Chapecó Region, Chapecó, Brazil.
⁵⁸ Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
⁵⁹ Australian Rivers Institute, Griffith University, Nathan, Queensland, Australia.
⁶⁰ Department of Geography & Environmental Systems, University of Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
⁶¹ Université Julius N'Yerere de Kankan, Kankan, Guinea.
⁶² Department of Biological Sciences, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan, USA.
⁶³ Graduate School of Environmental Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan.
⁶⁴ School of Science, Technology and Engineering, University of the Sunshine Coast, Sippy Downs, Queensland, Australia.

PMID: 40186595
DOI: 10.1111/gcb.70171

Abstract
in English, Spanish

Decomposition of plant litter is a key ecological process in streams, whose contribution to the global carbon cycle is large relative to their extent on Earth. We examined the mechanisms underlying the temperature sensitivity (TS) of instream decomposition and forecast effects of climate warming on this process. Comparing data from 41 globally distributed sites, we assessed the TS of microbial and total decomposition using litter of nine plant species combined in six mixtures. Microbial decomposition conformed to the metabolic theory of ecology and its TS was consistently higher than that of total decomposition, which was higher than found previously. Litter quality influenced the difference between microbial and total decomposition, with total decomposition of more recalcitrant litter being more sensitive to temperature. Our projections suggest that (i) warming will enhance the microbial contribution to decomposition, increasing CO₂ outgassing and intensifying the warming trend, especially in colder regions; and (ii) riparian species composition will have a major influence on this process.

La descomposición de materia vegetal es un proceso ecológico clave en los ecosistemas fluviales, cuya contribución al ciclo global del carbono es significativa en relación con su extensión en la Tierra. Examinamos los mecanismos que subyacen a la sensibilidad a la temperatura de la descomposición en ríos y proyectamos los efectos del calentamiento climático sobre este proceso. Comparando datos de 41 sitios de estudio distribuidos globalmente, evaluamos la sensibilidad a la temperatura de la descomposición microbiana y total, utilizando hojarasca de nueve especies combinadas en seis mezclas. La descomposición microbiana se ajustó a la teoría metabólica de la ecología, presentando una sensibilidad a la temperatura consistentemente mayor que la total, que a su vez fue más alta que la reportada previamente. La calidad de la hojarasca influyó en la diferencia entre la descomposición microbiana y la total, siendo la descomposición total de hojarascas más recalcitrantes más sensible a la temperatura. Nuestras proyecciones sugieren que (i) el calentamiento global incrementará la contribución microbiana a la descomposición, aumentando la emisión de CO₂ y reforzando la presente tendencia al calentamiento, especialmente en regiones más frías; y que (ii) la composición de especies ribereñas tendrá una influencia significativa en este proceso.

Keywords: carbon cycle; detritivores; global change; globally distributed study; litter quality; metabolic theory of ecology; microorganisms; plant litter decomposition; stream ecosystem functioning; temperature sensitivity.

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References

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Positive Feedback on Climate Warming by Stream Microbial Decomposers Indicated by a Global Space-For-Time Substitution Study

Affiliations

Positive Feedback on Climate Warming by Stream Microbial Decomposers Indicated by a Global Space-For-Time Substitution Study

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract
in English, Spanish

References

MeSH terms

Grants and funding

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources

Medical

Abstract in English, Spanish

References

MeSH terms

Grants and funding

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources

Medical

Abstract
in English, Spanish