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Advances in the aquatic sciences
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Effects of reach-scale canopy cover on trophic pathways of caddisfly larvae in a Japanese mountain stream

Hideyuki Doi A B F , Yasuhiro Takemon C , Taichi Ohta D , Yuko Ishida D and Eisuke Kikuchi E
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A Graduate School of Life Sciences, Tohoku University, 2-1-1 Katahira, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8577, Japan.

B Present address: School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, University of Washington, Box 355020, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.

C Water Resources Research Center, Disaster Prevention Research Institute, Kyoto University, Gokasho, Uji, Kyoto 611-0011, Japan.

D Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University, Katura, Nishikyo-ku, Kyoto 615-8530, Japan.

E Center for Northeast Asian Studies, Tohoku University, Kawauchi, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8576, Japan.

F Corresponding author. Email: hdoi@u.washington.edu

Marine and Freshwater Research 58(9) 811-817 https://doi.org/10.1071/MF07067
Submitted: 2 April 2007  Accepted: 1 August 2007   Published: 21 September 2007

Abstract

Differences in trophic pathways between reaches with and without tree canopy cover above the channel were assessed using stable isotopes in a 1.4-km stretch of the Kamo River, Japan. The trophic pathways of two larval trichopteran species, a grazer (Goera joponica, Goeridae) inhabiting stone surfaces and a net-spinning filter-feeder (Stenopsyche marmorata, Stenopsychidae) inhabiting interstices of the stony stream bottom, were estimated using carbon and nitrogen isotopes in reaches with and without canopy cover in winter. The δ13C values of G. japonica were similar to those of periphyton at each station, suggesting that G. japonica is a grazer on periphyton. A significant positive correlation between carbon isotope values of S. marmorata and benthic particulate organic matter (BPOM) indicated that BPOM varied in composition according to the amount of solar energy within a reach. In addition, there was a significant positive correlation between carbon isotope values of filter-feeders and the periphytic algal contribution to BPOM using an isotope mixing model, indicating that the main food source of the filter feeders was derived from the in situ periphytic algae in open reaches and from a terrestrial source in canopy-covered reaches.

Additional keywords: filter-feeder, food webs, grazer, spatial scale, stable isotope.


Acknowledgements

We thank Dr K. Itoh, Department of Agriculture, Tohoku University, for her permission to use the stable isotope analytical facilities in her laboratory. We thank Mr T. Tanaka, of the Graduate School of Engineering at Kyoto University, for his help with field work. This study was supported in part by Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A2) from Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (No.15206058) and by CREST, JST.


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