Beschreibung:
<jats:p><jats:bold>SUMMARY. </jats:bold>
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<jats:list-item><jats:p>Breakdown rates of dogwood (<jats:italic>Cornus florida</jats:italic> L.), red maple (<jats:italic>Acer rubrum</jats:italic> L.) and white oak (<jats:italic>Quercus alba</jats:italic> L.) leaves were investigated at two first‐order and two second‐order sites in an Appalachian Mountain stream.</jats:p></jats:list-item>
<jats:list-item><jats:p>Leaves exposed in mesh bags were sampled on eight occasions over a 207 day period and breakdown rates were compared using an exponential decay model.</jats:p></jats:list-item>
<jats:list-item><jats:p>There was a consistent ranking in leaf breakdown rate within each site, i.e. dogwood > red maple > white oak, and all species broke down faster at second‐than at first‐order sites.</jats:p></jats:list-item>
<jats:list-item><jats:p>Our data suggest that differences in species‐specific leaf breakdown rates were largely a function of shredder abundance on the leaves.</jats:p></jats:list-item>
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