Response of aquatic hyphomycete communities to enhanced stream retention in areas impacted by commercial forestry

1. Aquatic hyphomycetes are an important component of detritus processing in streams. Their response to enhanced stream retentiveness was tested by manipulating three streams located in Kielder Forest (northern England), a large plantation of exotic conifers, and two streams in Montagne Noire (south-west France) dominated by native broadleaf woodland. Treatment was by placement of logs or plastic litter traps into a 10–20 m stream section. Fungal spores were collected from stream water upstream and downstream of the treated sections over 1–2 years.
2. The average concentration of fungal spores in reference sections was nearly 10× greater in the French streams than in the English streams. The number of hyphomycete species was also higher in the French streams. These differences between regions were probably a consequence of the much lower standing stock and diversity of leaf litter in the English streams.
3. Despite these large regional differences, the treatment had a clear effect in all streams. Detrital standing stocks were enhanced in treated sections by up to 90% in French streams and 70% in English streams.
4. Mean spore density below treated sections increased by 1.8–14.8% in French streams and 10.2–28.9% in the naturally less retentive English streams. The number of fungal species increased significantly below the treated sections of the English streams, although not the French ones.
5. In biologically impoverished plantation streams, input of woody debris can increase detritus retention and enhance hyphomycete diversity and productivity. This may have consequent benefits for detritus processing and macroinvertebrate production.