Allochthony in stream food webs decreases with temperature across a subcontinental scale

Authors

Higgins, K. T., Bogan, M. T., Ruhi, A., Mims, M. C., Atkinson, C. L., Busch, M. H., Gill, B. A., Smith, C. R., Neeson, T. M., Hong, Y., Apgar, T. M., Shogren, A. J., Malish, M. C., Silknetter, S. C., Mohammadi, R. M., Belskis, A. M., Allen, D. C.

Abstract

Riverine and riparian food webs are connected via 'allochthonous' resource flows from neighboring ecosystems. These resources, such as terrestrial leaf litter, contribute to benthic macroinvertebrate diets, supporting higher trophic levels. While allochthony occurs in streams globally, its sensitivity to broad environmental gradients remains poorly understood. We explored the drivers of allochthony across six river basins within the contiguous United States, including climate, stream size, and flow permanence. We used Bayesian mixing models to estimate macroinvertebrate dietary proportions in four functional feeding groups. Air temperature best predicted allochthony, with consumers relying less on allochthonous resources with increasing temperature. Our models indicate that macroinvertebrate diets become primarily autochthonous at approximately 15{degrees}C mean annual air temperature, with leaf litter-consuming shredders showing a slightly higher threshold for this shift. We also found increased allochthony in smaller, non-perennial streams. These findings highlight the complexity of stream allochthony and responses to multi-scale environmental factors.

Preprint server: bioRxiv
The authors list and abstract were imported from bioRxiv on 29 Sep 2026.

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