Here are some recent papers that have successfully used the cotton-strip assay:

Cross, D. A., Costello, D. M., Tiegs, S. D., Kuehn, K. A., Halvorson, H. M., Pignatelli, A., & Capps, K. A. (2025). Influence of urbanization on organic-matter processing and nutrient immobilization in the Southeastern USA. Freshwater Science, 44(4).

Tiegs, S. D., Capps, K. A., Costello, D. M., Schmidt, J. P., Patrick, C. J., Follstad Shah, J. J., LeRoy, C. J., & the CELLDEX Consortium. (2024). Human activities shape global patterns of decomposition in rivers. Science, 384, eadn1262.

Mack, L., Buchner, D., Brasseur, M., Leese, F., Piggott, J., Tiegs, S. D., & Hering, D. (2024). Fine sediment and the insecticide chlorantraniliprole inhibit organic-matter decomposition in streams through different pathways. Freshwater Biology.

Carrier-Belleau, C., Pascal, C. L., Tiegs, S. D., Nozais, C., & Archambault, P. (2023). Tipping point arises earlier under a multiple-stressor scenario. Scientific Reports, 13, 16780.

Mancuso, J., Tank, J. L., Mahl, U. H., Vincent, A., & Tiegs, S. D. (2023). Monthly variation in organic-matter decomposition in agricultural stream and riparian ecosystems. Aquatic Sciences, 85, 83.

Burdon, F. J., Reyes, M., Schönenberger, U., Räsänen, K., Tiegs, S. D., Eggen, R. I. L., & Stamm, C. (2023). Environmental context drives pollution impacts on ecosystem functioning. Oikos, 2023, e09131.

Hill, M. J., Thornhill, I., Tiegs, S. D., Castro-Castellon, A. J., Hernández-Avilés, S., Daw, A., Salinas-Camarillo, V. H., & Hobbs, S. (2022). Organic-matter decomposition in urban freshwaters and riparian zones. Ecological Indicators, 142, 109232.

Mancuso, J., Messick, E., & Tiegs, S. D. (2022). Parsing spatial and temporal variation in stream ecosystem functioning. Ecosphere, 13(8), e4202.

Fell, S., Carrivick, J. L., Cauvy-Fraunie, S. C., Crespo-Pérez, V., Hood, E. W., Randall, K. C.,

Nicholass, K. J. M., Dumbrell, A. J., Tiegs, S. D., & Brown, L. E. (2021). Glacier loss accelerates fungal decomposition of river organic matter. Nature Climate Change

Ferreira, V., Elosegi, A., Tiegs, S. D., von Schiller, D., & Young, R. (2020). Organic-matter decomposition and ecosystem metabolism as tools to assess the functional integrity of streams and rivers – a systematic review. Water, 12, 3523.

Burdon, F. J., Bai, Y., Reyes, M., Tamminen, M., Staudacher, P., Mangold, S., Singer, H., Räsänen, K., Joss, A., Tiegs, S. D., Jokela, J., Eggen, R. I. L., & Stamm, C. (2020). Stream microbial communities and ecosystem functioning show complex responses to multiple stressors in wastewater. Global Change Biology.

Tiegs, S. D., Costello, D. M., Isken, M. W., Woodward, G., McIntyre, P. B., Gessner, M. O., Chauvet, E., Griffiths, N. A., Flecker, A. S., Acuña, V., Albariño, R., Allen, D. C., Alonso, C., Andino, P., Arango, C., Aroviita, J., Barbosa, M. V. M., Barmuta, L. A., Baxter, C. V., … Zwart, J. A. (2019). Global patterns and drivers of ecosystem functioning in rivers and riparian zones. Science Advances, 5, eaav0486.

Vizza, C., Zwart, J. A., Jones, J., Tiegs, S. D., & Lamberti, G. A. (2017). Landscape patterns shape wetland pond ecosystem function from glacial headwaters to ocean. Limnology and Oceanography, 62, 8–21.

Jackson, M., Weyl, O., Altermatt, F., Durance, I., Friberg, N., Dumbrell, A., Piggott, J., Tiegs, S. D., Tockner, K., Lehmann, A., Narwani, A., Krug, C., Leadley, P. W., & Woodward, G. (2016). Recommendations for the next generation of global freshwater biomonitoring tools. Advances in Ecological Research, 55, 615–636.

Wensink, S., & Tiegs, S. D. (2016). Shoreline hardening alters freshwater shoreline ecosystems. Freshwater Science, 35, 764–777.

Griffiths, N. A., & Tiegs, S. D. (2016). Organic-matter decomposition along a temperature gradient in a forested headwater stream. Freshwater Science, 35, 518–533.

Tiegs, S. D., Clapcott, J. E., Griffiths, N. A., & Boulton, A. J. (2013). A standardized cotton-strip assay for measuring organic-matter decomposition in streams. Ecological Indicators, 32, 131–139.