The longer the conditioning, the better the quality? The effects of leaf conditioning time on aquatic hyphomycetes and performance of shredders in a tropical stream

In this study, we aimed to evaluate the effects of leaf conditioning time on aquatic hyphomycete assemblages and the performance of invertebrate shredders. We hypothesized that post-conditioning effects, i.e., that phase in which leaf nutritional quality no longer increase or even decline, occur late in tropical streams. Consequently, leaf quality would increase monotonously with fungal colonization and leaves conditioned for longer periods...