Identifying Stream Invertebrates as Plant Litter Consumers

Abstract

Many stream invertebrates consume substantial amounts of plant litter at some time during their life cycle and thus play a key role in plant litter decomposition. These litter-consuming invertebrates include mainly shredders, a functional feeding group defined by their ability to shred litter, but also some scrapers, leaf miners, wood borers, and generalist consumers. This chapter describes methods to estimate invertebrate abundance and biomass in litter samples, and to identify litter-consuming invertebrates through gut content analysis. The latter involves gut dissection and mounting, and subsequent identification and quantification of different food items under a microscope. Additionally, the chapter provides an extensive list of litter-consuming invertebrate families recorded from different biogeographic regions with a particular focus on the tropics.