Kenneth Fortino edited Introduction.tex  about 8 years ago

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\section{Introduction}  Ecosystem subsidies, the transfer of resources across ecosystem boundries \cite{Polis_1997} are an important part of organic matter cycling in aquatic systems. Although the reciprical transfer of resources between aquatic and terrestrial systems is common (cite), the majority of lentic and lotic ecosystems rely heavily on terrestrial organic matter inputs to support their metabolism and secondary production \cite{Marcarelli_2011}. Organic matter subsidies from terrestrial to aquatic ecosystems are dominated by detrital plant material either as dissolved (DOC) or particulate (POC) organicmatter  carbon. Although DOC and POC inputs are variable across systems, they can represent a substantial augmentation of autochthonous organic matter production \cite{Hodkinson_1975} \cite{GASITH_1976} \cite{wetzel_1984} \cite{WETZEL_1995} \cite{Webster_1997} \cite{kobyashietal2011} \cite{Mehring_2014}. The food webs of forested streams are heavily dependent on the input of leaf litter (POC) to support secondary production \cite{wallaceetal_1999} but even stream with high autochthonous production respond to alterations in leaf litter inputs \cite{Mineau_2012}. Dissloved organic carbon inputs into streams have received less attention than POC but alterations to DOC subsidies have been shown to alter the abundance \cite{Bott_1984} and function \cite{Bernhardt_2002} of stream microbial communities. Furthermore, DOC subsidies processed through the microbial loop can support metazoan production \cite{Hall_1998, Wilcox_2005}