Cellulolytic decomposition in Welsh upland rivers in response to organic matter addition (2013)

Each stream was divided into an upstream control zone and a downstream experimental zone. Samples of algal biofilm were collected from tiles previously placed on each sampling site. Deciduous leaves were added directly to the stream and by fixing 'Onion bags' of leaves the stream bed and bank. Samples were collected two occasions, January (3-16/01/2013), and March (11-14/03/2013) in all the streams in both the upstream reference zones and downstream experimental zones. Six experimental units (cotton strips) were placed randomly in each reach of the experimental sites before and after the manipulation. At the end of the 'before' (T1) and after (T2) experimental periods, strips were recovered from the streams and frozen immediately at ~20 degrees Celsius. Back at the laboratory calico strips were rinsed thoroughly in tap water and oven dried to constant mass at 65 degrees Celsius and the tensile strength was measured using a Hounsfield machine (Maywood Instruments Ltd., Basingstoke, UK) with a 25 kN load cell and 40 mm test gap (after Jenkins et al. 2013). One estimate of breaking strain was obtained per strip. Three untreated strips (which were also rinsed thoroughly in tap water after being taken to the field and returned, then oven dried to constant mass before tensile strength testing) were used as controls for any loss of strength from transport and washing in tap water.

This dataset is included in the following collections

The DURESS project - Diversity of Upland Rivers for Ecosystem Service Sustainability