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Stemflow metazoan transport from common urban tree species of varying canopy structure
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  • Kelly Cristina Tonello,
  • Marcelle Teodoro Lima,
  • Maria Virginia Urso-Guimarães,
  • John Toland Van Stan
Kelly Cristina Tonello
Universidade Federal de Sao Carlos

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Marcelle Teodoro Lima
Universidade Federal de Sao Carlos
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Maria Virginia Urso-Guimarães
Universidade Federal de Sao Carlos
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John Toland Van Stan
Cleveland State University
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Abstract

The stemflow may wash canopy-dwelling metazoans to the litter and soils below; however, metazoans transported by stemflow have been typically ignored in past research. In fact, the visual presence of metazoans in stemflow collection bins was reported as “contamination.” Thus, we know little about these organisms’ transfer from plant canopies to the surface. To investigate this topic, we monitored metazoan concentrations and composition within stemflow that drained from 8 urban tree species over 12 months. Metazoan concentration and composition in stemflow were also analyzed with respect to tree canopy and bark traits to assess whether, or to what extent, canopy metazoan dispersal was affected by canopy structure. Tree structural traits studied here, include bark texture, stem diameter at breast height (D) and canopy height-to-width ratio (H:W). These traits were sorted into three classes: (1) furrowed-, flaky/exfoliating- and smooth-bark texture; (2) <10, 10-20 and >20cm D; and (3) <1, 1-2 and >2 H:W. Analysis of 288 samples found 1,307 individuals distributed into 7 classes (16 orders), and one organism at phylum level. There were considerable variations in metazoans’ density [ind L -1] in stemflow, ranging from 1.0 to 16.9 ind.L stemflow −1. Variability across individual trees was high across species, but individual trees with the highest metazoan stemflow density and flux were flaky-exfoliating-barked individuals in the largest D size class with moderate-to-high canopy. On the other hand, based on trait groups across all individuals, higher stemflow metazoan density and flux was generally observed in smooth-bark trees in largest D and H:W classes.