Hydrological contraction patterns and duration of drying period shape microbial-mediated litter decomposition

Highlights: • The number and length of streams experiencing intermittency is increasing worldwide. • Microbial responses to contraction patterns and drying duration were evaluated. • Aquatic hyphomycetes may remain active during drying periods. • Slower contraction patterns favoured microbially-mediated leaf mass loss. • Longer drying periods reduced fungal species richness and inhibited leaf mass loss. The length and number of streams experiencing intermittency is expected to increase in response to human population growth, associated water use, and climate change. In these streams, habitat contraction may occur at distinct rates giving rise to drying periods of distinct duration. To date, the impact of drought installation rate and duration have been mostly overlooked. In this microcosm study, stream conditioned oak leaf litter was subjected to either a short (5 weeks) or a long (8 weeks) drying period, originating from a very slow, slow, or abrupt contraction. The effects of these treatments were compared at the end of the drying period in terms of microbial-mediated litter mass loss, fungal biomass, respiration, and sporulation rates. A very slow contraction pattern led to 1.3 times higher mass loss than both slow or abrupt contraction. Fungal biomass, respiration and sporulation rates were up to 2.3 times lower under slow than abrupt contraction. Both drying period durations inhibited leaf decomposition, suggesting an early, critical effect of drying on microbial-mediated processing, regardless of contraction pattern. This seems to be related to an impoverishment of leaf associated fungal communities and resultant lower functional efficacy – species richness decreased by up to 75% in response to a long (vs. short) drying period, despite the maintenance of mycelial biomass. Our results show the relevance of aquatic hyphomycetes to litter decomposition in dry streambeds, particularly following slower habitat contraction patterns. Faster wet-to-dry transitions and longer drying periods strongly impaired microbial functioning, with potential impacts on global processing rates and cascading effects through changes of detritus quality. If confirmed in field tests, such impacts on stream functioning may be mitigated by preserving riparian forests, which may protect against extreme drying events by buffering temperature changes.